ANAB press release (http://www.rabnet.com/content/press/ANABrelease.doc)
NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media contact:

November 30, 2004Penny Fredrick, 888-722-2440

pfredrick - rabnet.com

ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board to Replace ANSI-RAB NAP

Milwaukee – The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society for Quality (ASQ) have agreed to form a new American national accreditation body. The ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) will replace the ANSI-RAB National Accreditation Program (ANSI-RAB NAP) as of January 1, 2005.

ANAB was formed in response to the adoption of ISO/IEC 17011, Conformity assessment – General requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies, which requires that a national accreditation body be a legal entity. The ANSI-RAB NAP as currently structured does not meet that requirement. ANAB will also be divorced from RAB’s personnel certification programs, as ISO/IEC 17011 prohibits a body from engaging in both accreditation and certification activities.

By meeting the requirements of ISO/IEC 17011, the American accreditation body will satisfy concerns within the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), the global organization of national accreditation bodies, and remain in good standing as a signatory to the IAF multilateral recognition arrangements for both quality and environmental management systems.

Certification/registration bodies (CRBs) accredited by the ANSI-RAB NAP will automatically convert to ANAB accreditation as of January 1, 2005. ANSI-RAB NAP-accredited CRBs will receive the new ANAB accreditation mark for use with their registered clients. New certifications issued by accredited CRBs after January 1, 2005, should carry the ANAB mark. Existing certificates will be revised on the clients’ existing recertification schedules.

(more)

No change in staffing for existing NAP programs is anticipated. However, the accreditation staff has reorganized to better focus on customer needs in advance of implementing the ANAB agreement. Operations will continue to be based in Milwaukee. New contact information (telephone, fax, Web site, and e-mail addresses) will be provided as soon as they are available.

The agreement to create ANAB was approved by ASQ’s Board of Directors on November 5, 2004, and ANSI’s Executive Committee approved the pact on November 18, 2004. Final approval is expected when ANSI’s board ratifies the agreement at its mid-December meeting.

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I'm not sure if this is good or bad - Or if it makes a difference other than in name.

Comments from those who know???

The information was leaked by rumor a few months ago. It created some - shall we say - less than happy feelings. The other "underground" information suggests that the new body will include accreditations to ISO/IEC 17025 and 17020 and to ISO Guide 65.

Whether the rumors are true remains to be seen.

Whether it is good or bad also remains to be seen. Will the new body seek recognition from NACLA or from an ILAC region to support 17025/17020/Guide 65? They state they will seek IAF recognition, which will serve the 9K world.

Time will tell, I suppose.

Hershal

The RAB website has the following posted message:

Note: This site will be unavailable as of December 20, 2004. New sites are under construction for the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) and RABQSA International, the two new organizations that will succeed RAB when RAB ceases operations at the end of 2004. RAB offices will close at the end of business on December 23, 2004, and will reopen as ANAB and RABQSA offices on January 3, 2005. New Web sites will also be available at that time.

So, if you want to access some information from the site, you have 3 days left, before they shut it down.

"By meeting the requirements of ISO/IEC 17011, the American accreditation body will satisfy concerns within the International Accreditation Forum (IAF),"

Something occurs to me.....ABs that accredit labs and inspection bodies and Guide 65 organizations are moving to ISO/IEC 17011. ANSI currently accredits Guide 65 organizations. That the new body will conform to 17011 is no surprise. That will allow the new AB to accredit labs (ISO/IEC 17025) and inspection bodies (ISO/IEC 17020).

However, ABs that accredit labs do NOT become signatories to IAF.....they become signatories to ILAC or a region of ILAC (APLAC, EA, IAAC). The new AB should be aware that if IAF recognizes them as signatory for lab or inspection body accreditation, that may have the potential (potential, but may be worked out) to upset the apple cart in the recent agreement between ILAC and IAF.

The new AB should also be aware that any lab accreditations it issues may not be accepted by organizations that are signatory to ILAC or an ILAC region, until it becomes a signatory under one of those agreements. Some of the ILAC/region signatories include: IAS, A2LA, NVLAP, and SCC/CLAS (Canada).

Obviously, this is likely worst case, and the 17011 may be a typo, they may have meant 17021. Still, this bears some watching, going forward.

Hershal

Looks like these are the new logos:
http://elsmar.com/jpg/ANABlogo_caption.jpg

http://elsmar.com/jpg/rab-qsa.jpg

And the new websites:

www.anab.org (http://www.anab.org/) and www.rabqsa.com (http://www.rabqsa.com/)
Personally, I wish these two new organizations a lot of success. The credibility of the 3rd party certification process depends a lot on organizations like these.
Good luck, ANAB and RABQSA International.

According to ANAB's Heads Up (http://www.anab.org/HTMLFiles/docs/HeadsUp/HU41.pdf), organizations certified under the (now defunct) ANSI-RAB NAP Program will have to stop using material depicting the old RAB logo by January 1, 2006.

According to the same document, Registrars accredited under the ANAB Scheme should have informed their clients accordingly before the end of 2004.

Whoa, guys, there's way too many intials involved for the lay person to understand what's happening.

I've been to both web sites and I'm still not clear on what they each do, and why the change happened.

Help?

Basically, the RAB used to do three things:
- Accreditation of registrars
- Accreditation of training course providers
- Auditor certification

Part of the RAB is now separate and is called ANAB. It handles only the accreditation of registrars.

The other part of the old RAB has merged with QSA and is called RABQSA International. They do the other two things - accreditation of training course providers and auditor certification.

Anyway, that's my take on the whole deal. If I'm wrong, somebody please let me know.

Thanks, Howste. That's much clearer!