Difference Between IAF & Non-IAF

What is IAF in ISO Certification? And what does IAF Stand for?

Firstly, IAF stands for International Accreditation Forum. IAF is the Global Association for the ISO Accreditation Bodies for System, Product, and other certification programs. The primary responsibility of the IAF organization is to ensure the right, competent, unbiased conformity assessment and certifications through Accreditation Bodies from various countries.

As you know, most countries have their own Standards Institutes and accreditation bodies. So, In order to bring all nation’s standards practices in one platform to eliminate the trade barriers, IAF monitors the operations functions of accreditation bodies. This makes the ISO Certification system more authentic, genuine, and widely acceptable.

Accreditation Body follows the guidelines set by IAF, becomes the IAF Member, and gets the authority to issue the ISO Certificates through various Certification Bodies under different Certification program; this makes the Accreditation Bodies more reliable and trustworthy when it comes to impartiality and confidence.

Because of the IAF competency to ensure the conformity assessments, Government Institutes from various nations accept ISO Certificates recognized by IAF Accreditation Bodies only.  

What is Non-IAF in ISO Certification?

Non-IAF means the respected Certifying Certification Bodies are accredited by Accreditation Bodies that are not IAF Member and not recognized by IAF. These Accreditation Bodies operate completely independently. Non-IAF Accreditation Bodies also issue the ISO Certificates as per the guidelines set by ISO, but as they are autonomous, there will be a conflict of interest that they may not work transparently, the conformity assessment may be compromised in the form of unbiased and competency. Hence, Government institutes from various countries do not consider the Certificates issued by non-IAF Accreditation Bodies.