By Jasmin Dhakaan Accreditation Expert | The Conformity Edge – ISO/IEC 17000 Weekly Series
Every time you buy food, board a flight, or use a certified product, accreditation is working silently behind the scenes, building the trust we often take for granted.
On June 9th, the world celebrated World Accreditation Day, an initiative by IAF and ILAC, spotlighting how accredited conformity assessment builds trust in markets, systems, and lives. This year’s theme, “Accreditation: Empowering Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs),” highlighted its vital role in fostering business growth and reliability.
What Is Accreditation? The Invisible Foundation of Everyday Confidence
We rarely question the safety of food, the accuracy of lab results, or the reliability of electronic devices. Why? Because robust systems exist to ensure they’re trustworthy. That system is accreditation.
Accreditation is a formal process by which an independent body evaluates the competence, impartiality, and performance of organizations that conduct testing, inspection, or certification. It’s the backbone of trust, ensuring that results are reliable and decisions are based on evidence.
As I always say, “Accreditation is not a stamp it is a signal that says: You can trust this.”
Accreditation and Certification: Understanding the Difference
It’s easy to confuse certification with accreditation, but they play distinct, complementary roles:
- Certification confirms that a product, service, or system meets specified requirements (e.g., ISO 9001 for quality).
- Accreditation verifies that the certifying body itself—like a lab, inspection agency, or certification body—is competent and impartial, often to standards like ISO/IEC 17025 or ISO/IEC 17021.
This layered system of verification creates a chain of trust, holding the entire conformity ecosystem together.
Accreditation in Global Trade and Public Safety
Thanks to mutual recognition agreements by ILAC and IAF, test results and certificates from accredited bodies in one country are accepted globally. This:
- Reduces duplication
- Speeds up market access
- Ensures product and service safety worldwide
For Example: a product made in Dubai, tested in Germany, and sold in the U.S. – it can move seamlessly across borders if all organizations involved are accredited.
In public safety, the stakes are even higher. A miscalibrated test or a faulty inspection can cost lives. Accreditation ensures technical reliability and ethical responsibility.
With Accreditation, we operate on evidence. Without Accreditation, we operate on assumption.
A Culture of Ethics, Not Just Compliance
The values at the core of accreditation are:
- Impartiality
- Competence
- Confidentiality
These are more than just buzzwords; they are the guardrails of credibility. Accreditation bodies themselves undergo peer evaluations, creating a circular trust system where accountability flows in all directions. This is how the conformity industry resists bias, shortcuts, and malpractice.
“Compliance is a goal. Commitment is a culture.”
In the Age of AI, Accreditation Matters More Than Ever
AI is now diagnosing patients, screening resumes, and guiding public policy. But who ensures the integrity of these systems?
Standards like ISO/IEC 42001:2023 help manage AI risks, but accreditation ensures that only competent bodies audit AI systems. It brings human accountability into digital decision-making. Accreditation is no longer just about products; it’s about auditing digital ethics.
What I Have Learned: Accreditation is a Mindset, Not a Milestone
Over the last decade, I have worked with hundreds of labs, inspectors, and auditors. I have seen organizations crumble due to shortcuts, and I have seen them rise by simply choosing to do the right thing, even when no one is watching.
Accreditation should never be treated as a one-time exercise. It must be a living part of your organization’s culture.
Many businesses fall into the “audit trap”: scramble for documents, pass the assessment, and return to business as usual. True accreditation is a mindset shift. It is about using internal audits as learning tools, welcoming non-conformities as opportunities for improvement, and embedding ethics and quality into every level of decision-making.
People Behind the Trust
Behind every certificate is a human being a trained assessor, a qualified auditor, a detail-oriented document controller.
- The QMS officer who flags a mistake.
- The internal auditor who double-checks data.
- The lab technician who questions a process.
These are the unsung heroes of global trust.
The future of the TIC (Testing, Inspection, Certification) industry depends not only on digital tools or smart systems but on investing in people. Initiatives like Standardization Hub International – SHI and ITIC Global are stepping up. Through inclusive education, mentorship, knowledge-sharing, and community, we are building a new generation of conformity professionals.
Behind every safe product is a silent force: Accreditation. Because technology needs ethics. And ethics need people.
