Accredia is the national accreditation body appointed by the Italian Government to attest the competence of laboratories and bodies that verify the conformity of products, services and professionals to the reference standards, facilitating their circulation on the market, national and international.
Accredia is a private non-profit association founded in 2009, which operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy and carries out an activity of public interest to guarantee institutions, businesses and consumers.
With Accredia, Italy has complied with EC Reg. 765/2008, which sets the rules on accreditation activities in all EU countries.
Accredia has 69 members who represent all parties involved in accreditation and conformity assessment activities, among them: 9 Ministries (Enterprises and Made in Italy, Environment and Energy Security, Defense, Infrastructure and Transport, Internal Affairs, University and Research, Labor and Social Policies, Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests, Health), 7 Major national public entities, 2 Standardization bodies (UNI and CEI), 27 business and trade organizations, associations of accredited certification and inspection bodies and testing and calibration laboratories, associations of consultants and consumers and suppliers of public utilities, such as State railways and energy.
Accredia is a member of the EU and international accreditation networks (EA – European co-operation for Accreditation, IAF – International Accreditation Forum and ILAC – International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) and is a signatory of the related Mutual Recognition Agreements, under which laboratory tests and the certifications of bodies accredited by Accredia are recognized and accepted in Europe and worldwide.
There were 2,263 bodies and laboratories under accreditation of which 666 certification, inspection and verification and validation bodies, 1,382 testing and medical laboratories and proficiency testing providers, and 215 calibration laboratories, reference materials producers and biobanks.
The market value of the activities carried out in Italy by accredited bodies and laboratories is over 4.2 billion euros, according to a 2020 Accredia-Prometeia study: of these, the bodies produce around 1.6 billion euros in value, testing laboratories 2.5 billion, calibration laboratories almost 110 million euros.
In Italy there are about 350 thousand certified professionals under accreditation and the certification of management systems under accreditation involved almost 160 thousand company sites.
