The ANSI Connection
The ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board's relationship with
the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) dates almost to
its beginnings as RAB. The United States may be unique in having
standards development as a private-sector activity, overseen by
ANSI. Elsewhere, the national standards organization is typically a
government function and accreditation is an outgrowth of standards
activity.
Because RAB, as a private-sector organization, was the exception
internationally, its board of directors agreed that cooperation
with ANSI, the international standards community, and the federal
government would enhance the credibility of the U.S. system
globally.
The government declined to be involved in a relationship with
and, in essence, give its blessing to a private-sector activity.
Rather, through its National Institute of Standards and Technology,
efforts were made to keep the door open for the government to take
responsibility for accreditation. Meanwhile, ANSI was exploring
itself being an accreditation organization for the United States,
while RAB was discussing partnership with ANSI.
On December 13, 1991, RAB and ANSI agreed to operate the
American National Accreditation Program for Registrars of Quality
Systems. "Quality has been one of the buzz words of the 1990s and
this program promises to be a great asset to U.S. businesses
competitively engaged in the global marketplace," Manuel Peralta,
then ANSI's president, said.
Twelve certification bodies accredited by RAB prior to the
agreement were subsequently converted to accreditation under the
ANSI-RAB program.
After RAB introduced its second accreditation program in May
1996, a second agreement was negotiated with ANSI. The
ANSI-RAB National Accreditation Program (NAP) covered both ISO 9000
quality management systems (QMS) and ISO 14000 environmental
management systems (EMS).
"The ANSI-RAB agreement to provide an accreditation program for
both ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 will offer...U.S. business the benefit
of 'one-stop shopping.' ANSI is committed to providing a strong and
credible program that will instill confidence and ensure value,"
Sergio Mazza, then ANSI president and CEO, said.
Learning From Others
An early priority for Lofgren was to have direct contact with
the few who had experience operating a national accreditation body.
He spent time in the United Kingdom with the National Accreditation
Council for Certification Bodies (NACCB) and with NACCB-accredited
certification bodies to learn how they operated.
"After we put in place a system that we felt met our
requirements and began operating and implementing that system, we
wanted to compare our own evaluation methods and techniques with
those of our counterparts. Since some registrars
(certification bodies) that RAB was evaluating for accreditation
were already accredited by the Netherlands' Raad voor de
Certificatie (RvC), we were able to schedule some of our
accreditation audits at the same time that RvC was doing its
audits, so we were able to see each other at work," Lofgren
said.
Both at work and while socializing in the evenings, the
assessment teams discussed philosophies and discovered differences
of both style and substance, which was a cause for concern. "One of
the goals of the whole system - in fact of ISO itself - is the free
movement of trade around the world. We wanted to eliminate trade
barriers by developing confidence in each others' operations and
you can't do that if you're working to different requirements. We
had to try to harmonize activities," Lofgren said.
Casual and independent efforts at harmonization were followed by
more formal arrangements. On October 2, 1992, RAB and ANSI signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) with RvC that spelled out a
shared recognition of the desirability of doing things in a similar
fashion. Eventually, RAB signed additional MOUs and also expanded
existing MOUs to include other national accreditation bodies.
Next: International
Cooperation
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