National Accreditation System of the Republic of Belarus

Accreditation in the National accreditation system of the Republic of Belarus is performed in accordance with the provisions laid down in the normative legal acts of the Republic of Belarus (Law of the Republic of Belarus No. 437-З of October 24, 2016 “On assessment for compliance with technical requirements and accreditation of conformity assessment bodies”, Law of the Republic of Belarus No. 3848-XII of September 5, 1995 “On ensuring the uniformity of measurements”) and with account of the provisions of the Treaty on Eurasian economic union.

According to the Law N 437-Z of 24 October 2016:

Accreditation objectives are as follows:

• to ensure implementation of a unified technical policy in the field of conformity assessment;
• to provide confidence and trust of applicants for certification and testing as well as end-users of products, works and services in reliability of the activities of accredited bodies;
• to create conditions for mutual recognition of conformity assessment results of accredited bodies at international and interstate (regional) level.

Accreditation principles are as follows:

• harmonization of legal regulation and approaches in the field of accreditation with international standards;
• voluntariness;
• openness and availability of information about procedures and results of accreditation;
• objectivity, impartiality and competence of the accreditation body, its independence from applicants for accreditation, applicants for certification and testing, certificate holders, manufacturers, persons authorized by manufacturers, sellers (suppliers), consumers of products, works and services;
• provision of equal conditions for all applicants for accreditation;
• confidentiality of information obtained throughout accreditation;
• avoidance of restriction of competition among accredited bodies;
• inadmissibility of combining accreditation activities with conformity assessment activities and (or) with the implementation of control (supervision), except surveillance;
• reimbursement of accreditation service.

Structure of the National Accreditation System of the Republic of Belarus comprises the following:

• the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus;
• the accreditation body;
• the Accreditation Council of the National Accreditation System of the Republic of Belarus;
• accredited CABs;
• assessors;
• technical experts;
• Technical committees on accreditation.

When performing accreditation the following requirements are being taken into account:

• Law of the Republic of Belarus No. 262-З of January 5, 2004 “On technical regulation and standardization”;
• Law of the Republic of Belarus No. 300-Z of July 18, 2011 “On applications of citizens and legal entities”;
• Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (signed in Astana on May 29, 2014);
• Decision of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission No. 100 of December 5, 2018 “On the procedure for inclusion of accredited conformity assessment bodies (including certification bodies, testing laboratories (centres)) into the Unified register of conformity assessment bodies of the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as its formation and maintenance” (as amended by Decision No. 62 of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission of May 22, 2023);
• accreditation procedures and other accreditation issues as set in the Accreditation Rules approved by the Resolution of the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus No. 27 of May 31, 2011 (as amended by Gosstandart Resolution No. 39 of June 26, 2019 and Gosstandart Resolution No. 102 of December 22, 2020).
• Rules for maintaining the Register of the National Accreditation System of the Republic of Belarus as set by Resolution of the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus No. 41. of May 26, 2017.

In accordance with clause 2 of the Accrediation Rules “Accreditation in the National accreditation system of the Republic of Belarus is performed by the accreditation body - Republican unitary enterprise "Belarusian state centernfor accreditation ", subordinate to the State Committee for Standardization".

The functions of the accreditation body are set out in Article 49 of Law No. 437-З of October 24, 2016. The powers of the accreditation body, the rights and obligations of applicants for accreditation and accredited bodies are laid down in Chapter 2 of the Accreditation Rules.

In accordance with clause 5 of Chapter 1 of the Accreditation Rules, the accreditation body carries out its activities in accordance with the interstate standard GOST ISO/IEC 17011-2018 "Conformity assessment. Requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies".

The State Enterprise "BSCA" has developed, documented, implemented and maintains up-to-date the management system that ensures continual compliance with the requirements of GOST ISO/IEC 17011-2018. BSCA Director approved the Quality Policy of the State Enterprise "BSCA" .

BSCA carries out accreditation of legal entities of the Republic of Belarus or foreign legal entities seeking to receive confirmation of their competence in performance of confirmation of conformity, testing, examinations and (or) measurements, proficiency testing, inspection, as well as accreditation of legal entities of the Republic of Belarus and individual entrepreneurs carrying out verification and (or) calibration, at their applications on the basis of civil law contracts.

In accordance with clause 6 of Chapter 1 of the Accreditation Rules, the requirements for applicants for accreditation (accredited bodies) are those set in the Law of the Republic of Belarus " On assessment for compliance with technical requirements and accreditation of conformity assessment bodies ", the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On ensuring the uniformity of measurements", Accreditation Rules, the Rules for confirmation of conformity in the National Conformity Assessment System of the Republic of Belarus, approved by the Resolution of the State Committee Standardization of the Republic of Belarus dated July 25, 2017 No. 61, mandatory technical regulatory legal acts of the National Conformity Assessment System of the Republic of Belarus, technical normative legal acts laying down the requirements for assessment of competence of applicants for accreditation (accredited bodies), basic standards.

Accreditation document is a certificate for accreditation, the template for which is established by the Accreditation Rules. The scope of accreditation is determined in the appendix to the accreditation certificate.

The rights and obligations of applicants for accreditation and accredited bodies are laid down in Article 58 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus No. 437-Z of 24.10.2016 and are further specified in Chapter 2 of the Accreditation Rules.

Consideration of complaints and appeals submitted to BSCA is carried out in accordance with documented procedures developed according to the requirements of GOST ISO/IEC 17011:

DP SM 7.12 Management of complaints;

DP SM 7.13 Consideration of appeals.

The national accreditation system of the Republic of Belarus is recognized within the International Laboratory accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) in 5 fields of accreditation (testing, calibration annd medical laboratories, inspection bodies, proficiency testing providers). Conformity assessment bodies accredited under these schemes are entitled to use the combined ILAC MRA mark in accordance with the documented procedure. The register of the accredited conformity assessment bodies entitled to use the combined ILAC MRA mark can be accessed here.

International recognition of the National accreditation system of the Republic of Belars helps minimize the practice of re-assessment of conformity of exported products, which reduces the costs for Belarusian manufacturers and thus increases the competitiveness of Belarusian goods and services.