The Philippine Accreditation Bureau (PAB) joins Bureau Veritas Certification Philippines in its ISO 9001:2015 Internal Auditor’s Course to introduce and promote the equivalence of PAB accreditation services on 25 July 2019, at the Diamond Hotel, Roxas Boulevard, Manila. Bureau Veritas is one of PAB’s accredited certification bodies in the Philippines for Quality Management System (QMS). The event also gave PAB an opportunity to present internationally recognized accreditation schemes that it offers.

The Philippine Accreditation Bureau is internationally recognized through its membership to the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC), and International Halal Accreditation Forum (IHAF). PAB has Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) for Quality Management System (QMS), Environmental Management System (EMS) and Food Safety Management System (FSMS) under APAC and Multilateral Recognition Arrangements (MLA) for IAF. It is also recognized under the APAC and ILAC MRA for inspection, testing and calibration.

These MRA and MLA were established by ILAC, IAF and APAC so that there is mutual evaluation and acceptance of accreditation systems among their member accreditation bodies. These arrangements promote international acceptance of endorsed certificates, test, calibration and inspection reports and other documents issued by CABs that are accredited by signatories like PAB. Thus, adhering to the free trade goal of being “tested once, inspected once or certified once, accepted everywhere”. These international arrangements also promote mutual confidence that support a platform to recognize the equivalence of accreditations performed by PAB’s overseas counterparts. This confidence is further reinforced because PAB like other signatory members is regularly peer evaluated by team of international experts assembled by these international organizations. Peer evaluation is a tool used to ensure that accreditation bodies are at par with the international standards and systems and procedures are harmonized across accreditation bodies around the world.

Through information campaigns, PAB corrects the misconception that accreditation issued by foreign accreditation bodies is superior to locally issued accreditations. We would like to emphasize that PAB accreditation is equivalent to accreditations issued by foreign accreditation bodies like UKAS, DAkkS, ANAB and others member signatories of the international accreditation forum. Signatory status of accreditation bodies can be verified by checking against the member detail sections of the website of ILAC, IAF, APAC and IHAF.

PAB welcomes invitations that aim to strengthen the appreciation of accreditation and conformity assessments in the Philippines. For more information about PAB and its services please visit www.dti.gov.ph/pab or call telephone number 02 895-39-95 or email via pab@dti.gov.ph.

Release Date:  26 July 2019