FAQ - Directorate of Accreditation

What does Accreditation mean?

Accreditation means the formal recognition of the technical and organizational competence of an authority to execute a specific service as described in the scope of accreditation. Competence is the key to transparency, confidence and comparability.


Personal	Technical Infrastructure	Organizational Structure
Technical competence	Criteria for decision making	Independence
Technical experience in specific areas	Equipment	Impartiality
Continuous Qualification	Procedures	Quality Management

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Personal	Technical competence	Technical experience in specific areas	Continuous Qualification
Technical Infrastructure	Criteria for decision making	Equipment	Procedures
Organizational Structure	Independence	Impartiality	Quality Management

Accreditation is part of quality infrastructure and constitutes one of the temple’s quality chalands along with standards, metrology, certification and quality management. Accreditation is the most effective market tool and a passport for receiving services from contractors requiring independent and competent conformity assessment bodies. It is viewed as a reliable indicator of technical competence.

What are the duties of the Accreditation Directorate?

The General Directorate of Accreditation (DPA) </ strong> is a public authority that acts as the national accreditation service in the Republic of Albania.

The DPA is subordinate to the Ministry of Finance and Economy and functions under the Law No.116 / 2014 dated 11.09.2014 “On Accreditation of Conformity Assessment Bodies in the Republic of Albania”, DCM no.667, dated 29.07.2015 – “On the Way organization and functioning of the DPA “and with the requirements of the Standard ISO / IEC 17011: 2017” Requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies. “</ em>

Accreditation in Albania as a process has started around 1993, and has been carried out by the Accreditation sector at the General Directorate of Standardization. Commitments taken by Albania in the framework of the Stabilization and Association Agreement regarding the gradual approximation of the technical rules of the Community and the European procedures for conformity assessment, standardization, metrology and accreditation (SAA Article 75) identified as a priority the allocation of the accreditation function by the Directorate the General Standards and the establishment of the Accreditation Directorate in March 2004.

DA performs accreditation based on the following standards:

For test / calibration laboratories in standard S SH ISO 17025 “General criteria for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories”.
For medical laboratories, accreditation is based on standard S SH ISO 15189 “General criteria for the competence of medical laboratories”.
For certification bodies of accreditation products is based on standard S SH EN 45011.
For certification bodies of accreditation quality systems is based on standard S SH EN 45012.
For certification bodies of accreditation personnel is based on standard S SH ISO 17024.
For inspection bodies, accreditation is based on standard S SH EN 45004.

What is the difference between accreditation and certification?

Accreditation = Technical Competence Assessment The procedure on the basis of which an authorized body assesses the competence of a conformity assessment body to perform specific tasks such as testing, calibration, certification and inspection. Certification – Assess whether the product or service is in compliance with the requirements. Certified – means the activity of a third party and independent, which verifies whether the process, service or product in question meets the specific requirements of the relevant standards, technical regulations or normative acts in force. At first glance it seems that accreditation and certification are the same, but it should not be forgotten that certification is a recognition of a product’s or service’s compliance with the requirements of the standard or technical rule while accreditation is a recognition of technical competence.