ACCREDITATION PROCESS

Any Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) can apply for accreditation. Obtaining accreditation is not a one-time process but an ongoing activity and business.

If a CAB wishes to be accredited by GAB and is operating in an area in which GAB has existing expertise, GAB will carry out an assessment to establish that:

  • CAB is impartial;
  • CAB is technically competent to do the work in question;
  • The resources and facilities are appropriate and sufficient for the work;
  • The evaluator’s actual performance is to the required standard;

A brief pictorial presentation of the accreditation process and the description of assessment activities is given below:

accreditation-process1
accreditation-process2

Application review will ensure that the application received from the applicant is complete in all respects including the payment of application fee.

Off-site document assessment will be done by GAB assessment team to verify the compliance of the documented management system of the applicant with the applicable standards.

On-site office assessment will be done by GAB assessment team at the office of the applicant to verify the implementation of documented management system and compliance with the applicable standards.

On-site witness assessment will be done by GAB assessment team at the project site observing the performance of verifiers/auditors of the applicant in accordance with the documented management system and applicable standards.

Annual surveillance assessment will be done by GAB assessment team once every year on-site at the office of the accredited body and witness assessment.

Reaccreditation assessment will be done every four years and follow the procedure like initial accreditation.