Updated Statement on Brexit

11 January 2021

As you are aware, the United Kingdom has now left the European Union and is in a transition period which ends on the 31st December 2020.

As a result we have received questions from clients in relation to the validity of UKAS Accredited certification after the end of the transition period.

NQA UKAS accredited certification will continue to be accepted across the European Union after the end of the transition period except in a very small number of instances.

UKAS accredited management system certification (such as that issued by NQA), is recognised globally under the International Accreditation Forum, Multi-Lateral Agreement (IAF MLA). Signatories to the IAF MLA are required to recognise the certificates issued by conformity assessment bodies (such as NQA), accredited by all other signatories of the IAF MLA (such as INAB, DAkkS and RvA), with the appropriate scope.

In practice, this means that EU Member States will recognise UKAS accredited management system certification. All EU Member States are signatories to the IAF MLA through their membership of the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA).

The UK Government has confirmed that UKAS’s role as the national accreditation body will remain after the UK leaves the EU. This means that NQA’s UKAS accredited activities will continue to be unaffected and UKAS accreditation will continue to be recognised. Accredited certificates issued by NQA will continue to be valid in the European Union following the UK’s departure from the European Union, regardless of whether or not the UK leaves with a deal in place.

In the relatively small number of instances where EU legislation requires accreditation to be awarded by the national accreditation body of an EU Member State, UKAS accreditation may no longer be recognised at the end of the transition period. This is depending on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations.

Key Points to Note

ISO certificates issued by NQA, under our UKAS accreditation, will remain overwhelmingly valid in the European Union after Brexit.
In a very small number of circumstances, where EU legislation requires accreditation to be awarded by the national accreditation body of an EU Member State, UKAS accreditation may no longer be recognised.
NQA is not a notified body and does not provide CE marking services.

Further Information

UKAS continues to work closely with the UK Government on this matter and has released information related to its position on Brexit. This information can be found here.

UPDATE 19.11.2020 - UKAS have released a statement on Brexit and UKAS Accreditation. Point 3 states “UKAS accreditation, together with the reports and certificates of its accredited customers, will continue to benefit from international recognition (with the exception of EU-Regulatory activities)”.

In addition under Point 4 Recognition of UKAS accreditation across Europe, states “in line with the EA and ILAC/IAF MLAs/MRAs (see point 3) the services, reports and certificates of UKAS accredited bodies, with the exception of EU Regulation and EU schemes, should continue to be recognised across the EU, EFTA and the rest of the world”.

You can read the full statement here: https://www.ukas.com/news/brexit-and-ukas-accreditation/

For more information on the IAF MLA please visit here.

UPDATE 13.01.2021 - You can find an update from UKAS on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement here: https://www.ukas.com/news/accreditation-and-the-eu-uk-trade-and-cooperation-agreement/