News

ABCB – Seeking a New Chief Executive

Overview: ABCB is the leading Trade Association for Accredited Certification Bodies operating in the United Kingdom. A part-time post of ABCB Chief Executive will be falling vacant at the end of June 2024 and a replacement is being sought. This varied and diverse role presents an exciting opportunity for the right candidate to play a […]

ABCB Celebrating 40 Years

Award wining ABCB is proud to celebrate its 40th year. Founded in 1984 in response to a UK Government request that CBs should work together to provide a collective input to the then newly established National Accreditation Council for CBs (NACCB). ABCB continues to be recognised by Government, UKAS, and a wide range of organisations […]

ABCB in Partnership with Croner

ABCB Announce Partnership with Croner to Offer Free Business Support to Members

ABCB Chief Executive Wayne Terry was delighted to announce another added value member benefit. ABCB has partnered with Croner who will provide a free Business Support Helpline. This is a fantastic service for those who don’t have their own staff in house, but also a great way to get a second opinion for those who […]

UNIDO Publish Remote Conformity Assessment Paper

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is pleased to announce the launch of a publication titled “Remote conformity assessment in a digital world: Opportunities, challenges and implications for developing countries”. The publication provides a high-level overview of how remote assessment/audit techniques have developed in recent years and applied in different conformity assessment contexts. It […]

ABCB Receive Association of the Year Award

ABCB are delighted to announce that they are proud winners of the Association Awards 2021 for ‘Business Member Association of the Year’. Wayne Terry, Chief Executive of ABCB said “we are absolutely delighted to have won this prestigious award, and we thank the Association of Executives and the judging panel for bestowing the award on […]

ABCB calls for an exemption for Certification Body Staff

TPS 74 – A Triumph in Collaboration

The big question facing the world of accreditation is what will the new normal look like when travel restrictions are lifted following the current COVID-19 pandemic. Undoubtedly, during the pandemic the industry responded quickly and moved to remote auditing to ensure business and supply chains could continue. But what will happen once travel restrictions have […]

Preferential Recruitment Services for ABCB Members

ABCB and HRP (Hinton Recruitment Partners) are delighted to announce their strategic alliance bringing preferential recruitment services to members of ABCB. HRP offer a personal and transparent recruitment service, building long term partnerships and working as a resource partner to their clients.  HRP’s staff have extensive experience working within Certification and Testing sector and have […]

Collaboration – the Future of Audits Post-COVID-19

During the COVID-19 Pandemic we saw a dramatic change in the way audits were delivered in order to maintain accreditation and certification and to keep supply chains operational, necessity required the significant adoption of remote auditing in many countries around the world. There is no doubt that speed with which the industry adapted was in […]

ABCB Lead the Way on Remote Auditing

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, ABCB developed a remote auditing guide for its members that continues to serve them well, but what will be the norm post lockdown? The UK conformity infrastructure is conscious that post lockdown the value and integrity of accreditation remains intact, so we need to start preparing for what […]

ABCB Celebrates World Accreditation Day 2020

June 9th 2020 marks World Accreditation Day (#WAD2020), a global initiative established by ILAC and IAF to promote the value of accreditation. This year’s theme focuses on how accreditation supports food safety, bolstering the confidence of consumers, suppliers, purchasers and specifiers in the quality and safety of food. A joint statement released by the IAF and ILAC […]

ABCB Calls on Accreditors to Act Now

Rules are rules and the accreditation world has more than most, and rightly so. COVID-19 has already seen total shut down in some parts of the world so it’s vital that elsewhere the wheels of industry continue to turn. Accredited certification plays a big part in this and Accreditation Bodies must lead to ensure national […]

IAF CertSearch – A Single Source of Truth

The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) has officially launched the world’s exclusive global database for accredited management system certifications, providing businesses and governments the ability to digitally validate an organization’s certification(s) to determine if a certificate is valid and if the Certification Body issuing the certificate is accredited to issue certifications to that standard. IAF CertSearch, the […]

Latest BREXIT Position from UKAS

UKAS BREXIT Statement: 24 January 2020 The UK will have left the EU on 31 January 2020 after which the UK will be in a transition period until 31 December 2020. During the transition period nothing will change; there will be no impact on the awarding of UKAS accreditation certificates. The UK Government has confirmed […]

Accredited and Non-Accredited Certification

Industry Position Statement: Over 2.4 million organisations across the globe benefit from certification against management systems standards agreed and published by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). The most widely adopted of these is ISO 9001, the management systems requirements standard for quality, the latest version of which was published in 2015. Using management systems […]

ABCB Welcomes BAB as a Gold Member

ABCB are delighted to confirm that the British Assessment Bureau, one of the UK’s most progressive certification bodies, has announced its decision to become a Gold Member of the Association. Kent-based British Assessment Bureau (BAB), which provides a range of ISO certification services, has been enjoying the benefits of being a member of the ABCB […]

ABCB Welcomes 2020

2020 is underway and ABCB’s diary is already filling up representing members interests at the most important meetings for Accredited CBs. Dates confirmed so far include: UKAS Surgery (ABCB members only): February 27th IAF Mid Term Meeting (Beijing): March 30th – April 2nd EA General Assembly (Luxemburg): May 13th – 14th UKAS Policy Advisory Council: […]

ABCB OPENS ITS DOORS

In its 35 year history ABCB has traditionally focused on Management Systems, representing third party accredited CB’s that specialise in ISO/IEC 17021, such as ISO/IEC 9001. However, in today’s global marketplace, it is important that all aspects of accredited certification included the IAF Multilateral Recognition Agreement (MLA) is reflected in the activities of ABCB membership.

ABCB Celebrates World Accreditation Day

The 9th June marked World Accreditation Day, an initiative jointly established by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), to promote the value of accreditation, accredited conformity assessment and standards.

EA & THE IMPACT OF BREXIT STATEMENT

UKAS, the National Accreditation Body (NAB) of the United Kingdom, is a member of EA and a signatory to the EA Multilateral Agreement (MLA). With the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union, UKAS will no longer meet the EA membership criteria as they are not a NAB in a Member State or candidate country. EA has expressed the importance of having UKAS as member, even after the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.

NEW UKAS CHIEF EXECUTIVE

ABCB Chairman and Managing Director of NQA, Matt Gantley, has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of UKAS, taking over from Paul Stennett on 1 September 2018.  ABCB would like to thank Paul Stennet for his support and assistance in significantly improving the relationship

NEW ABCB CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Trevor Nash will be retiring as Chief Executive of ABCB at the end of 2018, after nine years.  He will be replaced by Wayne Terry who will take over on 1 January 2019.

UKAS CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY

The results of the UKAS customer satisfaction survey for quarter 1,of 2015/16 are available through the following link

THE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO CONSULTATION ON TRANSFORMING REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT

In the middle of 2011 the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills issued a consultation document on transforming regulatory enforcement. ABCB responded to the consultation to promote the use of accredited certification to support regulatory enforcement.

THE DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS ISSUES GUIDANCE TO UK BUSINESSES ENCOURAGING THEM TO USE NATIONALLY ACCREDITED CERTIFICATION.

ABCB has been successful in prompting the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) to state the UK Government’s support for UKAS accredited certification. BIS has published a statement on its website in which it encourages UK businesses, Government and local authorities seeking third party certification to do so with a certification body that is accredited by the UK’s national accreditation body, UKAS.

CAMPAIGNING AGAINST MISREPRESENTATION AND MISLEADING CLAIMS

It came to the Association’s notice that there was a certification organisation using the name ISO in its company name. It was quite likely that some people reading this organisation’s web site and promotional literature could believe that it was part of ISO. This organisation was not accredited by a national accreditation body.

ABCB CONTINUING TO PROMOTE NATIONALLY ACCREDITED CERTIFICATION

Recently it came to the Association’s notice that in Northern Ireland the Buildsafe-NI Action Plan had a requirement that all contractors seeking to tender for public sector works contracts shall have a health and safety management system certified by a third party.

ISO 45001 PUBLISHED

The long awaited ISO 45001 Occupational health and safety management systems – Requirments for Guidance and use was published in MArch 2018. A three year period has been agreed for OHSAS 18001 accredited certification bodies to upgrade their accreditation