A2LA Today l September 2016 l Number 132
By Kelsey Roberts, A2LA Marketing Coordinator
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently published FCC 16-74 “Memorandum Opinion and Order on Reconsideration” (released June 15, 2016), which extends the deadline for all laboratories who perform Certification and Declaration of Conformity (DoC) testing per the FCC rules to be accredited to ISO/IEC 17025. The previous deadline to become accredited was set at July 13, 2016, but the FCC has now extended this for an additional one-year period – until July 13, 2017. As directed within publication 16-74, the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) has now also released a revised version of its Knowledge Database (KDB) publication “974614 D01 – Accredited Testing Laboratory Program Roles and Responsibilities” (v04).
For the first time in history, this KDB now provides a procedure for laboratories that are located in countries that do not have a government-to-government MRA with the United States (i.e. APEC TEL MRA) to become designated as accredited (recognized) test firms with the FCC. The revised KDB indicates that labs in non-MRA countries “may use an accrediting body that the FCC has recognized for performing accreditation assessments within that specific country”.
Under these revised procedures, A2LA is excited to announce that it has submitted its application to the FCC in order to seek recognition to accredit laboratories in the following non-MRA countries: People’s Republic of China, India, Philippines, and Thailand.
As A2LA is already an FCC-recognized accreditation body for testing laboratories located within the United States, and also supports various government-to-government MRAs around the world, we anticipate that our application for recognition to accredit laboratories in these non-MRA countries will be straightforward and efficient.
A2LA urges all interested laboratories to begin the accreditation process as soon as possible in order to avoid delays and risk missing the FCC’s new deadline. We stand ready with full-time staff and technical assessor resources to assist in the accreditation of these laboratories on a global scale.
For additional information (including the A2LA F101 – Application for Accreditation: ISO/IEC 17025 Laboratories) or to request an estimate of costs associated with A2LA’s accreditation program, please contact Mr. Adam Gouker (301.644.3217 or agouker@A2LA.org) or visit the A2LA Electrical Testing Accreditation Program page.