Accreditation Services

Accreditation Journey

Through this journey, you will learn about the procedures, requirements and necessary documents to obtain the various types of accreditation and related services provided by the Center

to apply

Accreditation Services
laboratories
inspection bodies
Certificates
Halal Certification Bodies
Assessors and experts

1- Application

Application for accreditation is submitted by the conformity assessment body via the Saudi Accreditation Center website.

2- Review of Application

The Saudi Accreditation Center verifies the application and the relevant submitted documents for the completeness of the requirements

3-Document Review

The Saudi Accreditation Center reviews and evaluates the documents of the conformity assessment body.

4- Onsite Assessment Visit

The Saudi Accreditation Center visits the premises of the conformity assessment body to verify and assess its competence

5- Decision Making

After ensuring that the requirements are met and that the conformity assessment body is competent, a decision to grant the accreditation is made.

Laboratory Accreditation

It is the verification of the technical competence of the laboratory to perform specific types of testing, measurements and calibrations in specific fields such as laboratories for testing electrical, chemical, petroleum, building and construction products, measurement and calibration laboratories, and other fields. The Saudi Accreditation Center accredits laboratories in all fields according to the international standard ISO/IEC 17025 (General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories). It also accredits medical laboratories according to the international standard ISO 15189 (Medical Laboratories - Requirements for Quality and Competence), which provides the customers of these laboratories with confidence in the quality of the services that these laboratories provide.

The following aspects are verified during the accreditation process:

Competence of technical and management staff.
Availability and suitability of the facilities and equipment used in the laboratory.
Providing adequate Quality Control and Quality Assurance procedures.
Existence of appropriate sampling practices.
Providing documented procedures for performing the tests.
Providing a suitable testing environment.

Interested Parties in the service:

Third party testing and calibration laboratories.
In-house Laboratories such as those inside factories, food companies and oil companies
Private and governmental laboratories concerned with performing tests.
Laboratories interested in obtaining accreditation and documentation of the testing and calibration results issued by them.
Third Party medical laboratories.
Medical laboratories within private and governmental medical facilities.

Accreditation of inspection bodies

It is the evaluation of the technical competence of the inspection bodies to perform specific types of various inspections. Examples include inspection of elevators and escalators, amusement parks and other inspection services provided by these bodies. The center accredits the inspection bodies in accordance with the international standard ISO/IEC 17020 (Requirements for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection), which gives the customers of the inspection bodies confidence in the quality of the services they provide.

During the accreditation process, verification of:

Competence of technical and management staff.

Availability and suitability of the facilities and equipment used by inspection bodies.

Providing adequate Quality Control and Quality Assurance procedures.

Existence of appropriate practices during inspections.

Providing an appropriate environment to carry out inspections.

Service entities:

• Conformity assessment bodies that carry out inspections.

• Private organizations or governmental bodies carrying out inspection activities

• Remote field operations and temporary inspections facilities.

Accreditation of certification bodies

It is the evaluation of the technical competence of certification bodies in various fields such as management systems and certification of products, services and processes, which provides the customers of these bodies with confidence in the competence of the services they provide. The center accredits these bodies according to the relevant standards for each field; namely, Certification of management systems in accordance with ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 (Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems ), certification of products, services and processes in accordance with ISO/IEC 17065 (Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services), as well as certification of persons in accordance with the international standard ISO/IEC 17024 (General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons).

The following aspects are verified during the accreditation process:

Competence of technical and management personnel.
Adequacy of the facilities and equipment used by the certification bodies.
Providing adequate Quality Assurance and Quality Control procedures.
Existence of appropriate practices during certification operations.
Providing documented procedures for certification methods.
Providing the appropriate environment to carry out certifications.

The certification bodies for management systems can be accredited according to the international standard ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 in any of the following scopes:

Quality management systems ISO 9001
Environmental management systems ISO 14001
Food safety management systems ISO 22000
Information security management systems ISO/IEC 27001
Quality management systems for medical devices ISO 13485
Energy management systems ISO 50001
Occupational health and safety management systems ISO 45001

Bodies concerned with the service

Entities that grant certificates for managing quality systems in the governmental or private sectors.

Entities that grant certificates for products, processes and services in the governmental or private sectors.

Entities that grant certificates to individuals in the governmental or private sectors.

Halal Certification Bodies

It is the evaluation of the technical competence of the bodies that grant Halal certificates in accordance with the Gulf Standard GSO 2055-2 (General Requirements for Halal Certification Bodies), which provides the customers of these bodies with confidence in the competency of the services they provide. These certificates confirm that the product is Halal and demonstrate its compliance with the Islamic Sharia, which also ensure that the product is granted the certificate from a legitimate source or slaughtered in the Islamic way.

The following aspects are verified during the accreditation process:

• Competence of technical, management and legal (sharia) personnel.
• Adequacy of the facilities and equipment used by the certification bodies
• Providing adequate Quality Assurance/Quality Control procedures.

• Existence of appropriate practices during certification.
• Providing documented procedures of the certification methods.
• Providing the appropriate environment to carry out certification.

Bodies concerned with in the service

Bodies that grant halal certificates in the public and private sectors

Assessors and experts

The Saudi Accreditation Center employs highly competent assessors and technical experts in various fields of accreditation. The process of selecting and qualifying assessors and experts undergoes many stages to ensure their technical competence for assessing conformity assessment bodies, such as laboratories, inspection bodies and certification bodies.

The center allows invites its assessors to participate in the technical committees of the Center, participate in regional and international events, join training courses relevant to accreditation, and provides them with the opportunity for exchange of experiences among assessors and technical experts.

Cooperation Opportunities

There are several areas in which you can work as a collaborating assessor or expert at the Saudi Accreditation Center:

As a team leader, you focus mainly on managing the assessment team as well as assessing the management requirements of the conformity assessment body (management assessment).

As a technical appraiser, your mission is to assess the technical aspects of the conformity assessment committee (technical evaluation).

As a technical expert, you provide in-depth knowledge or specific experience in relation to the scope of the accreditation being assessed.