HAA participates in the activities of European and international accreditation organizations and represents Republic of Croatia and those organizations.
European Co-operation for Accreditation
HAA has signed the Multilateral Agreement on the Recognition of accreditation with the EA (EA MLA) for 6 accreditation schemes on 29 April 2010 and for accreditation scheme GHG on 03 October 2014, and with the ILAC (ILAC MRA) for the scope of laboratories on 29 April 2010 and on 24 October 2012 for the scope of inspection.
EA – European Cooperation for Accreditation is a European association of national accreditation bodies with the main aim of supporting the development of the European economy and society through the provision of efficient and reliable accreditation infrastructure in Europe, and ensuring equality of accreditation and accreditation of equal reliability of results, in cooperation with the European Commission and other European and international stakeholders.
HAA has sign MLA for accreditation schemes
In 2010, the HAA has successfully completed the demanding three-year evaluation process / evaluation by the EA, and on 29 April 2010 signed the Multilateral Agreement on the Recognition of Accreditation with the EA (EA MLA) for accreditation schemes:
- Accreditation of calibration and testing (HRN EN ISO/IEC 17025) and medical laboratories (HRN EN ISO 15189)
- Accreditation of certification bodies for products (HRN EN 45011)
- Accreditation of certification bodies for management system (HRN EN ISO/IEC 17021)
- Accreditation of certification bodies for persons (HRN EN ISO/IEC 17024)
- Accreditation of inspection bodies (HRN EN ISO/IEC 17020)
In 2014, the HAA has successfully completed evaluation process / evaluation by the EA, and on 03. October 2014 signed the Multilateral Agreement on the Recognition of Accreditation with the EA (EA MLA) for
- Accreditation of GHG verifiers (HRN EN ISO 14065)
With that HAA achieved its mission and vision to fulfill obligations embroidered with accreditation arising from the Stabilization and Association Agreement (Article 73) and the negotiations on Chapter 1. Free movement of goods.
Establishment of a system of signing multilateral agreements on recognition of accreditation (EA MLA) among accreditation bodies members of EA creates / enables mutual trust in the work of accreditation bodies, and thus the acceptance of certificates, test reports and inspection issued by accredited bodies, and helps suppliers that they do not have to re-evaluate their products or services in each country to which they are marketed . For these agreements it is critical that the results of accredited bodies are recognized as equally valuable among all accreditation bodies that have signed agreements. In this way, EA supports the functioning of the EU single market which was formalized by signing the cooperation between EA and the European Commission in June 2010.
The HAA has met the technical requirements for the automatic exchange of information on accredited bodies with the EA website (EA Search Facility) which is enabled to the signatories of the EA MLA. With this, all accredited bodies in the Republic of Croatia can be found via the search engine on the EA website, which is the added value of the signed EA MLA, competitive advantage Croatian accredited bodies and a good opportunity to establish contact with potential clients from across the European Union and beyond. In this way, the HAA indirectly contributed strengthening of competitiveness of the Croatian economy.
The HAA representatives actively participate in the work of administrative and professional bodies EA as follows: General Assembly (EA GA), Executive Committee (EA EX), the Council of the Multilateral Agreement (EA MAC), the Committee for horizontal harmonization (EA HHC), the Certification Committee (EA CC), Inspection Committee (EA IC), the Committee for laboratories (EA LC), the Committee for the promotion and communication (EA CPC), working groups and other ad hoc expert groups. By participating in the work of administrative and professional bodies of EA, the HAA is working and harmonizes work and exchanges experiences with the accreditation bodies of other EA Member States.
The history of participation in the work of the EA
- 1996. DZNM – National Accreditation service, based on the Law on Standardization (Official Gazette 55/96)
- 1996 – 1998. Training, follow-up visits, setting up the accreditation scheme according to HRN EN 45000 series of standards supported by the international project AMOS
- 1997. Affiliate membership in EAL
- 1999. Associate membership in EA
- 2002. Associate membership in ILAC
- 2003. Law on Accreditation (Official Gazette 158/03)
- 2004. Government Decree on establishing of the Croatian Accreditation Agency (Official Gazette 158/04 and 44/05)
- 2005. Independent HAA, Full membership in EA
- 2006. Development of assessment schemes for 4 NADs (LVD, EMC, ATEX, CPD), development of accreditation schema for medical laboratories
- 2007. Application for EA MLA
- 2010. EA MLA full scope
- 2010. Full membership in ILAC and ILAC MRA for testing, medical, calibration
- 2012. Confirmation of EA MLA
- 2012. ILAC MRA for inspection
- 2014. EA MLA for GHG
- 2016. Confirmation of EA MLA
- 2020. Confirmation of EA MLA
- 2023. Re-evaluation of HAA
ILAC – International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation
HAA signed an Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Accreditation with ILAC (ILAC MRA) on April 29, 2010.
ILAC is an international association of national accreditation bodies established in 1977. to remove technical barriers in international trade and facilitate international trade by promoting accredited tests and calibrations.
HAA signatory to ILAC-MRA
By the Multilateral Agreement on Recognition of Equal Accreditation with EA (EA MLA), HAA achieved full membership in ILAC and signed the Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Accreditation with LAC (ILAC MRA) on April 29, 2010 and October 24, 2014. for the field of inspection. By that, HAA achieved the highest international recognition and the degree of trust in a national accreditation body that can be achieved, and the bodies accredited by HAA could compete equally on the international market of goods and services.
HAA regularly follows the work of ILAC and applies Instructions and Guidelines in its work.
More information about the signatories of the ILAC MRA can be found on the ILAC website.
More information about ILAC can be found on the ILAC website.
IAF – International Accreditation Forum
The International Accreditation Forum, Inc. (IAF) is the world association of Conformity Assessment Accreditation bodies and other bodies interested in conformity assessment in the fields of management systems, products, services, persons and other similar programs of conformity assessment. Its primary function is to develop a single worldwide program of conformity assessment which reduces risk for business and its customers by assuring them that accredited certificates may be relied upon. Accreditation assures users of the competence and impartiality of the body accredited. IAF members accredit certification or registration bodies that issue certificates attesting that an organization’s management, products or personnel comply with a specified standard (called conformity assessment).
Main moto of IAF is: Certified once – accepted everywhere.
HAA follows work of IAF and applies their norms, regulations on our work. HAA is not IAF MLA signatory yet.
More information on IAF work can be found on their web page IAF.
Bilateral agreement of collaboration
The HAA promotes and develops regional and bilateral cooperation in the field of accreditation.
Agreements are primarily related to cooperation in the organization of joint training, exchange of assessors and the exchange of experiences in the assessment and accreditation procedures in general.