Information for CABs about change of rules in ATS

In February 2017, the Accreditation body of Serbia (ATS) made amendments in two documents: Rules for the Use of the Accreditation Symbol, Reference to Accreditation and ATS Status as a Signatory to the EA MLA, ILAC MRA and IAF MLA ATS-PA04 (technical correction published on ATS website on 19th April 2017) and Cross-frontier Accreditation Rules ATS-PA05 in order to conform them with the following changes in international documents:

- ATS-PA04, Rules for the Use of the Accreditation Symbol, Reference to Accreditation and ATS Status as a Signatory to the EA MLA, ILAC MRA are completely in compliance with the requirements of ILAC-R7:05/2015, Rules for the Use of the ILAC MRA Mark, IAF ML 2:2016, General principles on the use of the IAF MLA mark and EA-1/19 A:2015, Rules for Use of the EA Logo, as well as IAF resolutions (IAF Resolution 2015-14, Agenda Item 10 i IAF Resolution 2016-17, Agenda Item 9).

One of the significant changes refers to application of the decision by IAF GA (IAF Resolution 2015-14, Agenda Item 10 i IAF Resolution 2016-17, Agenda Item 9) which obligated CABs certifying management systems to use accreditation symbol on conformity assessment certificates for fields they are accredited for, in accordance with the granted Scope of accreditation.

It shall be deemed that the document for management systems certificates were issued by the process of accreditation if they have an accreditation symbol and/or refer to accreditation in the text and/or combined mark (if applicable).

Certification bodies that certify the management systems:

(1) must coordinate (conform) that the certification documents contain a symbol of accreditation or refer to accreditation at the time of making the decision about the recertification at the latest until the 6^th November 2019

(2) during the process of making the decision on initial accreditation, i.e. the extension of the scope of accreditation for the new standard, starting 6^th November 2019, certification bodies, which certificate the management systems must re-issue, previously issued non-accredited documents of certification in a period of one year until the date of making the final decision about accreditation.

Note: If there is an exception from the previous paragraph, the certification body’s Client, which certifies the management systems must justify this exception to both the certification body as well as to the accreditation body, and if they reach agreement between both parties, the certification in question will be considered to be accredited.

Point 2.2 of the document EA Rules for Use of the EA Logo EA-1/19 A:2015 stipulates that conformity assessment bodies accredited by EA members are not allowed to use EA logo. If you use EA logo on your website, it is vital that the logo be removed if you published it and the proof/information about it be sent to ATS to following email: office@ats.rs

Likewise, should you be interested in promoting international status of ATS as a signatory to the EA MLA/MRA and full member of international accreditation organisations (EA, ILAC, IAF), you can do so by putting the link to e.g. ATS logo which will direct to the ATS internet page containing the text about ATS status and international recognition (http://www.ats.rs/en/pages/international-organisations-and-agreements) – About us/International organizations and agreements and pursuant to point 3.2.1 of the Rules for the Use of ATS Logo ATS-PA07 which defines that “ATS logo may, upon request, be approved for use for other purposes, in adverts, articles, publications, on fairs, exhibitions, conferences/seminars and websites of other organizations.”

- ATS-PA05, Cross-frontier Accreditation Rules  which defines ATS policy applied when accrediting conformity assessment bodies with the head office outside the Republic of Serbia or CABs established in the Republic of Serbia having sites and/or key activities in another country, and the policy related to cooperation with other accreditation bodies in case of cross-frontier accreditation; these Rules are fully in compliance with the requirements of EA- 2/13 M:2012, ILAC-G21:09/2012 and Regulation (EC) No. 765/2008 and they are additionally updated with the explanations of definitions concerning cross-frontier accreditation laid out in the document EA- 2/13 S1.