The Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) helps markets work better by providing internationally recognised accreditation services that create economic benefit.
- Accreditation has many flow-on benefits throughout the market chain for business, regulators and government by:
- reducing compliance and transaction costs,
- reducing risk,
- streamlining operations,
- breaking down barriers to trade, which provides greater access to foreign markets; and
- providing assurance that goods and services sold are safe and can be used for their intended purpose.
These strengthen national, Trans-Tasman and international trade and commerce.
Accreditation adds value to the ever growing and increasingly complicated market chain in many ways, including by providing a symbol of assurance that certifiers and inspectors are independent and competent to perform their duties.
Accredited certification and inspection of products, processes and people—called conformity assessment—has a ripple effect through the market chain, right to the consumer. It gives consumers confidence that their purchases meet specified standards and are quality assured. This includes retailers, wholesalers and individual consumers.
Who we are
The Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) is an independent, third party accreditation body that provides internationally recognised accreditation services.
JAS-ANZ was established in 1991 through an agreement (JAS-ANZ Treaty) between the Australian and New Zealand Governments in order to facilitate the exchange of goods and services and strengthen the trading relationship between the two countries.
What we do
At JAS-ANZ we accredit the bodies that certify or inspect organisations, products or people. We do so by developing the assessment criteria certifiers and inspectors must meet to become accredited under these themes:
- Business and innovation,
- Health and human services,
- Product certification,
- Food and biological systems, and
- Environment and sustainability.
JAS-ANZ also develops schemes and provides training services through the JAS-ANZ Accelerate Training Academy.
What we don’t do
At JAS-ANZ we do not certify or inspect organisations, products or people.
We do not develop standards, however, we do work closely with the IAF, Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand through participating in working groups and committees who are developing or reviewing standards.
Accreditation
Accreditation is more than just a symbol of assurance – it’s a process for monitoring the impartiality and performance of the conformance assessment bodies (CABs). This valuable contribution is recognised through the licensing of accredited CABs to use the JAS-ANZ accreditation symbol as a mark of quality and reliability.
It flags that a certifier or inspector can be counted on to impartially determine if organisations, products and people conform to specified requirements.
Who benefits?
Accreditation gives certifiers, inspectors and their client organisations a competitive edge.
The players who benefit from our work include:
- certification and inspection bodies,
- clients of certification and inspection bodies (client organisations that provide goods and services and that want to be certified), and
- end consumers of certified and inspected products and services (retailers, wholesalers and the individual consumer).