International Personnel Certification Association’s ‘IPC Management System Auditors certification scheme’ received endorsement as a sub-scope of the International Accreditation Forum Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (IAF MLA) during the thirty-first IAF General Assembly held on 28 and 30 October 2017 in Vancouver, Canada.
- The IPC Management System Auditors certification scheme is the first personnel certification scheme ever to have achieved official endorsement by the IAF. This means more consistency and integrity for Management System Auditors certificates issued around the world.
- IPC is only working with those Accreditation Bodies that are participating in the IAF MLA for personnel certification. The IAF MLA delivers the confidence needed for market acceptance of conformity assessment outcomes. Certification of persons issued, within the scope of the IAF MLA, by a Personnel Certification Body (PCB) that is accredited by an IAF MLA signatory, ensures worldwide recognition, thereby facilitating international trade.
- From now on, the IAF peer evaluation process will take into account not only generic personnel certification requirements, but also the specific IPC scheme normative documents that are now endorsed by the IAF. This creates an additional layer of assurance that ISO/IEC 17024 accredited PCB’s – including in their scope the IPC Management System Auditors certification scheme – are certifying competent and knowledgeable management system auditors.
The International Personnel Certification Association (IPC), established in 1995 under the name International Auditor and Training Certification Association (IATCA), is the world association of personnel certification bodies. Through its membership IPC represents more than 80,000 certified management system auditors operating in more than 84 countries all over the world. IPC is the scheme owner of the world-wide operated ‘IPC Management System Auditors certification scheme’. ‘IPC Management System Auditors’ sets voluntary standards for the certification of Management Systems (MS) auditors.
The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) is the world association of conformity assessment accreditation bodies in the fields of management systems, products, services, process, persons and other similar programs of conformity assessment. IAF currently has 81 AB Members, 19 Association Members, and 6 Regional Accreditation Group Members. IAF is responsible for the harmonization and continuous improvement of the accreditation practices of its members with the ultimate goal to develop a single worldwide program of conformity assessment which reduces risk for business and its customers.
