Accreditation is a global system based on international standards. The system is intended to be a global way to demonstrate competency. According to MLA and MRA agreement between accreditation bodies, all the accreditations under the agreement made in those bodies can be approved in other countries regardless of the country in which the accreditation is obtained.
Recognition of results
Organizations accredited by FINAS can take advantage of the acceptability of the results in other countries in the accreditation areas under the MLA and MRA. Signatory countries have agreed that accredited results obtained in other countries will be accepted equally. At the moment FINAS in signatory in all agreements (except biobanking) for all its activity. Biobanking is not yet covered in the agreements. By referring to FINAS accreditation, the organization indicates that the results have been accredited. The reference also includes information on the international acceptability of the results, even if the reference is not mentioned. At the same time, FINAS being part of the agreements also ensures that the organization's results are internationally accepted. Valid international agreements can be checked from FINAS. Information is also available on the websites of the international accreditation organizations (EA, ILAC, IAF), where the signatories of the international MLA/MRA agreements have been published. The cooperation is constantly developing, and more and more countries are becoming party to the agreements.
International accreditation symbols
In addition to the FINAS accreditation symbol, the accredited organization may also refer to international agreements in connection with the results and in this way also separately demonstrate the acceptability of the results in accordance with international agreements. At the moment organizations may refer to the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) multilateral agreement (EA MLA) in writing: “FINAS is a signatory of the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) Multilateral Agreement for accreditation.". Same text is also added to the scope of accreditation. By using the international accreditation symbols (ILAC MRA and IAF MLA symbols) related to the IAF MLA and ILAC MRA agreements, operators accredited by FINAS can communicate that their operations are covered by these international agreements. International symbol is always used together with the organizations own accreditation symbol. Implementation of the symbols is described in document V1 and further information is available from FINAS.
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| ILAC MRA accreditation symbol |
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