ILAC MRA (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation Mutual Recognition Arrangement)
Definition
An agreement among national accreditation bodies (NABL, A2LA, UKAS, DAkkS, etc.) under which accreditation by any signatory body is recognised as equivalent, enabling a NABL-accredited report to be treated on equal footing with a UKAS-accredited report in international legal proceedings.
- Full name
- ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement
- Member bodies example
- NABL, A2LA, UKAS, DAkkS
- Effect
- Accreditation by any signatory treated as equivalent
- Legal use
- Reports from different signatories treated on equal footing internationally
Common questions
Why would a court accept a NABL-accredited report as equal to a UKAS-accredited one?+
Both NABL and UKAS are signatories to the ILAC MRA, meaning an independent peer evaluation has confirmed that each applies ISO 17025 competence requirements consistently. That shared oversight is the basis courts and parties use to treat the two accreditations as equivalent rather than ranking one above the other.
What is the difference between an accreditation body and the ILAC MRA itself?+
NABL, UKAS, and similar bodies directly accredit individual laboratories in their own countries. The ILAC MRA is the higher-level arrangement among those accreditation bodies themselves, confirming that their respective accreditation programmes meet a common international standard.
Related terms
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- NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories)
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