Accreditation is a third party attestation related to a conformity assessment body conveying formal demonstration of its competence to carry out the tasks of conformity assessment. The conformity assessment bodies namely certification bodies, inspection bodies, personal certifications and other system certification bodies get the accreditation after getting through with the assessment process for accreditation. Accreditation is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented. This ensures one certificate acceptable all over the world.

The accreditation process ensures that their certification practices are acceptable, typically meaning that they are competent to test and certify third parties, behave ethically, and employ suitable quality assurance.

One example of accreditation is the accreditation of certification bodies providing management system certification to the organizations who comply with the international management standards like ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS, FSMS, Etc.

The Accreditation process deployed by IOA Services can accommodate all types and size of organizations which can be carrying our wide range of activities. IOA Services Accreditation can be applied by all the applicants without having any geographical limitations and can be granted internationally. The accreditation can be given to all the organizations who are ready to follow the policies and rules of IOA Services.
IOAS follows accreditation procedure in 4 stages:

• Accreditation form submitted by interested conformity assessment body
• Where necessary IOAS personnel interact with the interested conformity assessment body and solve their doubts and queries
• Application is reviewed by Accreditation Committee and brief report is submitted to the management
• Based on the joint decision concluded by the management and committee, conformity assessment body is informed about next course of action

• Board communicates assessment dates to the conformity assessment body, obtains conformation and subsequently schedules site visit. During this visit, IOAS shall assess the technical competence, skill and knowledge of auditors as well as back office staff.
• IOAS’s competent personnel will initially review the management system developed by conformity assessment body. The assessment duration differ cause of the size of the CAB and the complexity of the process.
• An assessment report in details shall be recorded along with shortfalls and conformities.
• Shortfalls may be corrected by the conformity assessment body by implementing necessary measures within stated time frame of 60 days from assessment date.
• Where necessary, corrective actions implemented by the conformity assessment body are re-assessed after mutual agreement.

• An accreditation committee evaluates the assessment report and decides on whether the accreditation should be granted.
• When decided to grant the accreditation, IOAS declares successful completion of accreditation procedure and notifies the conformity assessment body about the same.
• IOAS, then issues accreditation certificate accompanying with annexure as necessary specifying scope of services.
• When accreditation is granted, conformity assessment body’s details are updated in IOAS registrar

• When issued, accredited certificate is generally valid for Four years. IOAS intend to ensure that the conformity assessment body comply with all necessary requirements and also maintain management system in order to deliver expected service to end customer. Surveillance audit is scheduled every year. Upon successful completion of five years, conformity assessment body enters into new contract for subsequent four years, that is called as re-accreditation

The application for the accreditation starts with the filling of the form and submitting it duly filled. The accreditation process is followed by an assessment- onsite and offsite. The conclusion on the process of issue of accreditation finishes off on the decision making for the accreditation.
The applicant can apply by filling the online/offline application. The application form can be downloaded through the below link.
IOA Services Accreditation is granted to the organization who can demonstrate the compliance of the national/international standards. The details of the standards can be obtained by the relevant website of ISO or the national standard organizations.