Requirements for Laboratory Accreditation Bodies - Under the EMC/Telecom MRAs, NIST designates qualified U.S.-based testing laboratories to specific foreign requirements.  The testing laboratories must be accredited by a U.S. laboratory accreditation body listed by NIST.  To be listed by NIST, the laboratory accreditation body must be recognized by and in good standing with a laboratory accreditation cooperation (i.e. ILAC, APLAC, etc.) that verifies, by evaluation and assessment, that its members are in full compliance with ISO/IEC 17011 and that their accredited laboratories comply with ISO/IEC 17025.  The laboratory accreditation body must have appropriate assessor expertise to assess and accredit EMC/Telecom laboratories and must undergo initial and periodic NIST witness audits by technical experts to verify that the technical requirements of the foreign economies are being properly assessed. 

The following U.S. laboratory accreditation bodies are acceptable for use for the purpose of the NIST MRA designations:

American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA)  

ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board/ACLASS (ACLASS)  

National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP)  

Requirements for Certification Accreditation Bodies - The National Voluntary Conformity Assessment Systems Evaluation (NVCASE) Program evaluates and recognizes qualified accreditation bodies. NVCASE recognition (1) provides regulatory authorities with confidence that U.S. conformity assessment bodies demonstrate conformance with established criteria, and (2) facilitates the acceptance of U.S. products in foreign regulated markets based on U.S. conformity assessment results. Current NVCASE sub-programs include recognition of accreditation bodies of (1) Telecommunication Certification Bodies (TBCs) and (2) organic production and processing certification bodies.