ENAO will offer accreditation services on a national basis, and international basis and enabling it to reach globally accepted Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA) and Multi lateral Arrangement (MLA) on the validity of certificates/reports issued by their Laboratories, Inspection Bodies, Certification Bodies and other related services.
ENAO’s accreditation of CABs will be achieved through five stages:
i) Application and document review
All applications for accreditation will be accompanied by a quality manual detailing the organization’s ability to meet the requirements of the relevant standard. ENAO will initially conduct a desk review of the documents submitted as part of verifying compliance. An on-site assessment will be scheduled once ENAO confirms that the applicant’s quality system, as documented, addresses all the requirements of the relevant standard.
ii) Pre-assessments
Prior to embarking on the formal accreditation process, organizations that seek accreditation, may request ENAO to conduct a pre-assessment to assess their readiness for accreditation. A pre-assessment is optional but advisable since it prepares the CAB for the Initial Assessment by identifying gaps between their current state of readiness and the relevant standard’s requirements. These gaps can therefore be bridged, where relevant, prior to the initial assessment.
iii) Initial Assessment
Initial assessment is the on-site assessment of the organization’s competence to perform the specific tasks for which they seek accreditation. The initial assessment covers all aspects of the organization’s relevant scope for which accreditation is sought. The ENAO approval structure will base its decision to grant or not grant accreditation, to a large extent, on the information gathered during this assessment.
iv) Follow up assessment
after an organization has obtained accreditation, ENAO will conduct periodic surveillance assessments at intervals as set out in its policy and which conforms to ILAC and IAF requirements. The surveillance assessments are scheduled to cover a representative sample of the organizations full scope of accreditation.
v) Re-assessments
A re-assessment will be conducted at the end of an assessment cycle. An assessment cycle is normally not more than 4 years and 6 months for laboratory accreditation and 2 years and 6 months for inspection and certification bodies’ accreditation.
