National and international regulations on accreditation do not impose an obligation on this matter. Accreditation is entirely voluntary. Usually; Free market economies, where conformity assessment services are provided, encourages laboratories and certification bodies to be accredited. Accreditation of a laboratory or certification body gives it a reputation. Certification bodies and laboratories can continue to provide services without being accredited if they think that they can survive, find customers and satisfy the customer by staying outside of accreditation.. In a free market economy, public authorities may make accreditation mandatory in some areas.
Foreign-origin organizations operating in our country and carrying out certification activities are accredited by a national accreditation body that is a member of the EA and if the extension of the relevant company in Türkiye is specified within the scope of this accreditation, they can serve the customers of these certification bodies in Türkiye.
EA certification organizations operating in any of the other countries in the world outside of their areas of responsibility, has made the certification work in Turkey and this organization, which accredits parties are a member of a regional accreditation body that makes eau mutual recognition agreement, where a the adequacy issues of certification bodies the problem will not arise.
However, according to the accreditation to be made from abroad, the accreditation to be obtained from the existing accreditation system in our country will of course have advantages in terms of cost and rapid transfer. Therefore, in the near future, certification bodies operating in our country will return to TÜRKAK and see it as a convenience for them to be accredited from here.
In the New Approach Directives of the European Union, CE marking has been imposed for risky products. It is essential that the test, inspection and certification results of the organizations authorized for CE marking in risky products (Notified Body) are positive. In the regulations prepared for the implementation of the Law No. 4703 on CE marking; The organizations to be authorized for CE marking must comply with the standards used for accreditation.
The international recognition of accreditation bodies is very important to ensure the free movement of goods in trade. Since our establishment, it has been an important goal in our agenda to ensure the recognition of the certificates issued by the conformity assessment bodies in our country, which is in the process of membership with the European Union.
In 2006, TÜRKAK became an internationally recognized accreditation institution by signing the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MLA) in the fields of laboratory, inspection and system certification accreditation, under the supervision of the EA.
In addition to the previously signed fields of TÜRKAK, the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MLA) in the fields of Personnel, Product, Environmental Management Systems Certification was also signed in 2008. Thus, TÜRKAK signed an MLA in all areas with EA.
Following our signing of MLA with EA, our application for full membership to the International Laboratories Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) was approved as of May 10, 2006, and a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) was signed in the field of testing and calibration laboratories.
Our institution has signed a Mutual Recognition Agreement with the IAF (International Accreditation Forum) in all areas in which it operates.
Those who want to take part in the TURKAK Assessor / Technical Expert Pool can apply in the event that an advertisement is opened on the TURKAK Service Portal (portal.turkak.org.tr). Applications are evaluated by the relevant commissions and a decision is made regarding the " Procedure for Authorization of Personnel Taking Part in the Accreditation Process and Formation of the Assessor/Technical Expert Pool ". Candidates who have received the necessary training in line with the decision taken are included in the pool.
Activity subjects to be accredited by TÜRKAK are generally included in the concept of "Conformity Assessment". Accordingly, laboratories that issue reports and certificates on experiments, analysis and calibration, Organizations that provide product certification on the basis of various standards and technical regulations, organizations that carry out surveillance activities, quality management, Organizations that certify environmental management and other management systems and organizations that certify personnel are among the potential to be accredited.
Conformity assessment bodies wishing to apply for accreditation must primarily have a quality management system established and operated according to the relevant standard. According to the scope of the activities carried out by the conformity assessment body, in addition to the standards mentioned above, compliance with the additional criteria prepared by the EA should be ensured.
Organizations that want to be accredited, when they make ready the "documents required in the application" on our website at www.turkak.org.tr and apply for accreditation to TÜRKAK, they are accredited by the decision of TÜRKAK Management if deemed sufficient after the file review and site assessment.
TÜRKAK has signed a Multilateral Agreement (MLA) with the EA in all areas where it operates. The most important aim of EA is to establish mutual trust between member countries and their accreditation systems and to ensure the permanence of this trust. This is achieved by member countries making agreements accepting the mutual equality of the systems, documents and reports of their accreditation bodies. In this case, the accreditation certificate issued by each accreditation body that has signed the MLA has international validity.
A simple flowchart explaining the accreditation procedures:
Laboratory accreditation expresses high reputation both nationally and internationally as a reliable indicator of technical competence. Laboratory accreditation provides formal recognition of the competence of laboratories, providing customers with an easy method to identify and select reliable testing, analysis and calibration services.
The procedures for the accreditation of the laboratory are regulated and standardized according to international criteria. Thanks to the common approach used for accreditation, reports and certificates containing the results obtained by accredited laboratories are internationally accepted. This situation reduces the risk of slowing down commodity trade between countries with unnecessary experimentation and analysis, and reduces additional experimentation and analysis costs.
Laboratory accreditation aims to ensure that the results of experiments, analyzes or calibrations of laboratories are accurate and reliable.
The ISO 9001 standard is widely used in the evaluation of the quality management systems of production or service organizations. Certification of organizations according to the ISO 9001 system indicates the conformity of the quality management system of the organization to this standard. While laboratories are certified according to ISO 9001, this certification does not make any statements about the technical competence of the laboratory. In this regard, the power of the document to convince the market and potential customers of the laboratory is quite insufficient.
Accreditation bodies generally grant the laboratories they accredited the right to use the accreditation mark / logo in return for a contract. These marks and brands are placed on the test / analysis / measurement reports or certificates prepared by accredited laboratories.
In addition, accreditation bodies prepare and publish lists or catalogs containing information about the name, address and scope of accredited laboratories. The list of organizations accredited by TÜRKAK has been published on the TURKAK website at www.turkak.org.tr. The address www.european-accreditation.org can be used to identify accredited organizations in European countries, and www.ilac.org to identify accredited organizations in other countries in the world.
In accordance with the TÜRKAK Accreditation Agreement and Procedures (Rules), Conformity Assessment Bodies are required to notify TÜRKAK about the changes occurring within their structures within the legal period. These notifications are forwarded to TÜRKAK by CAB by filling out the "F701-105 Structural Change Notification Form" and/or "F701-106 Personnel Device Change Notification Form" (depending on the content of the change).
“F701-105 Structural Change Notification Form” and “F701-106 Personnel Device Change Notification Form” submitted by CAB are evaluated by TÜRKAK. As a result of TÜRKAK's evaluation, if there are changes in personnel, location, equipment and management that affect the accredited activities of CAB and if these changes are evaluated as potential risks by TÜRKAK, it may be decided to suspend them partially or completely within the relevant scopes. (See P701 “Accreditation Procedure of Conformity Assessment Bodies” Article 3.7.2). TÜRKAK may plan an assessment if necessary. This audit may include all audit methods (on-site assessment including office and/or witness audit, remote assessment, document review, etc.).
