UNITED STATES ACCREDITATION BOARD LLC (USAB) is an Independent, International Accreditation Body (AB). USAB provides a certification body with trust mark and confidence to offer its services globally. It works to serve the global communities of businesses and consumers. USAB accredits appropriately qualified independent third party Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) such as Certification Bodies & Inspection Bodies to ensure that their competence to carry out specific tasks is as per the International Standards & the Benchmarks. USAB Accreditation is voluntary in nature. USAB complies with appropriate international standards and the applicable documents for the consistent application of those standards.
USAB gives conformity assessment bodies (registrars) the recognition they need to do business in an increasingly global marketplace. Accreditation through USAB can significantly increase the visibility of registrars on the worldwide business scene.
The mission of USAB is to help organizations worldwide become more competitive by ensuring the adequacy of their products, services and personnel, as well as the general effectiveness of organization management.
USAB operates in accordance with the requirements, criteria, rules and regulations laid down in the following documents:
• The requirements of the international standard ISO/IEC 17011, General requirements for bodies providing assessments and accreditation of conformity assessment bodies.
• The requirements and other benchmarks as stipulated in the Publicly Available Documents (PAD) published by various international bodies and USAB.
The authority vested is USAB is that assigned to them by the Conformity Assessment Bodies and other Organization it accredits and recognizes by virtue of these applicant and accredited bodies pledging support for the mission and objectives of USAB and ensuring that their actions are according to that policy. It is an independent, impartial and non-governmental body and makes no claim to be connected with any government.
United States Accreditation Board (USAB) operates as per ISO/IEC 17011, General requirements for bodies providing assessments and accreditation of conformity assessment bodies.
USAB quality system deploys policies that support our credibility and transparency.
Permissions: USAB operates its accreditation programs as per the applicable International Standards and Publically Available Documents and has requested for the official permission to the following organizations to use their Publications Vis: Requirements/Guidelines/Advisories: for the USAB accreditation applicants and the accredited CABs who wish to implement these requirements/guidelines voluntarily. The details of the permissions are posted on the USAB website.
International Accreditation Forum (IAF)
The Accreditation services provided by USAB may be accepted on the basis of an independently delivered service designed to support organizations seeking verification of the credibility and integrity of accredited conformity assessment bodies.
• We are an independent, impartial and non-governmental accreditation body.
• We consider accreditation as technical trade support activity.
• We are responsive to the needs and expectation of our Stakeholders.
• We are transparent in our dealings.
• We have clarity on the technical approach to the accreditation.
• We are open and accept multiple point of views.
• We endeavour to provide differentiated solutions in a cost-effective manner.
United States Accreditation Board (USAB) being an independent private limited company is governed by the Board of Directors of USAB as defined in the Memorandum & Articles of Association of the company. The Board of Director has overall authority and responsibilities for the operations of USAB to ensure that the governance policies and procedures shall represent interest of shareholders or investors or group of investors of USAB. The terms of reference of this body shall be the following amongst others:
• Development of policies relating to the operations of USAB.
• Supervision of the implementation of the policies of USAB.
• Supervision of the finances of USAB.
• Contractual arrangements.
• Legal & statutory compliance.
The Board delegates to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of USAB the responsibility to implement the USAB policies and procedures.
An independent Impartiality Committee representing the broad range of stakeholders reviews and adjudicates on possible conflicts of interest. United States Accreditation Board (USAB) endeavours that relevant interested parties are represented on its impartiality structure, with no single interest predominating. Interested parties are defined in ISO/IEC 17011 as parties with a direct or indirect interest in the accreditation services provided by USAB. These include the USAB Itself, Regulatory Authorities, Trade & Industries Associations, NGOs, Academia, Accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies and Consumer Rights Forums. However, it may not be possible for USAB to ensure that regulatory authorities are represented in the impartiality Committee considering difficulty of such persons getting formal approval from their employers.
The Impartiality Committee is made up of at least Five Members (Seven members desirable) without predominance by USAB accredited CABs. When necessary, an expert from a panel/any-interested party may also be invited to participate in the Impartiality Committee meetings other than those who are already members of the Impartiality Committee. The Chief Executive Officer of USAB is an ex-officio member of the Impartiality Committee but shall have no voting power.
The Impartiality Committee supports the functioning of USAB accreditation scheme by way of advisory actions and unsolicited advice. The Impartiality Committee may approve of several separate Expert Panels comprising of a single member dealing in their area of expertise. Meetings of the Impartiality Committee are held at least once a year. The present members would elect the chairman of the meeting and the Chief Executive Officer would facilitate the secretarial function. The Impartiality Committee shall constitute the Appeals & Dispute Committee (ADC) of minimum three members from amongst the members of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) who do not have any interest in the matter under consideration.
Vision:
Our vision is to serve global communities of businesses and consumers. We will accomplish our vision though the successful implementation of an accreditation System for conformity assessment bodies and further education & training institutions those are responsible, responsive and recognized to demonstrate that their business critical processes are competent, professional and ethical resulting in value addition to our stakeholders.
Mission:
To promote advancement of SQAM (Standardization, Quality, and Accreditation & Metrology), which protect the interest of the Global Communities of Businesses & Consumers.
Objectives:
To establish itself as a lead non-government - private sector trade support institution as per the policy of international trade center (UNCTAD/WTO) to provide a proactive, transparent, impartial and credible accreditation and recognition to conformity assessment service providers in the field of quality, environmental, sustainability, occupational health & safety, food safety, information security & technology, research ..... and education service providers globally.
To accredit organizations in accordance with trade and industry accepted criteria, international standards, guides and other normative documents and continue to comply itself with the relevant international criteria.
To cooperate with national and international peer organizations on the conditions for accreditation and issues relating to accreditation as per the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade to ensure that regulations, standards, testing, certification and accreditation procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles.