Conformity Assessment in the North American Market: 21st Century Challenges and Opportunities

Published

July 18, 2001

Author(s)

Belinda L. Collins

Abstract

Conformity assessemnt arrangements that exist between a variety of national and international bodies and agencies, primarily at the voluntary level, were described in terms of their role in supporting trade facilitation. The role of first party, second party, and third party schemes are described in terms of both value added and cost. NIST's role as a designating authority under the U.S.-EU MRA was discussed, as well as its role in laboratory accreditation. The role of international accreditation bodies such as the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) was presented along with the concept of facilitating acceptance of test and callibration data across borders, and thus trade. Finally, the role of the National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation (NACLA) in reducing duplicative assessments and increasing confidence in U.S. Laboratory data was discussed.

Citation

Transatlantic Regulatory Harmonization and Global Standards

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

accreditation, calibration data, conformity assessment, laboratory accreditation, test, trade facilitation

Citation

Collins, B. (2001), Conformity Assessment in the North American Market: 21st Century Challenges and Opportunities, Transatlantic Regulatory Harmonization and Global Standards, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=200075 (Accessed May 3, 2026)

Additional citation formats