WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/W/349 
13 March 2012 
 (12-1386) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
THE USE OF THE ILAC MRA AND IAF MLA BY CENTRAL GOVERNMENT BODIES:  
THE EXPERIENCE OF THE UNITED STATES 
  
 The following communication, dated 12 March 2012, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of the United States 
 
 
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I. INTRODUCTION 
1. Article 9 of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade ("TBT Agreement" or the 
"Agreement") requires that Members, wherever pract icable, formulate and adopt international systems 
of conformity assessment where a positive assurance of  conformity with a t echnical regulation or 
standard is required.  In the Fifth Triennial Revi ew, Members agreed to exchange experiences in the 
TBT Committee on the various aspects of conformity assessment procedures, with a view to 
understanding how to facilitate accepta nce of conformity assessment results.
1   
2. Further to the Committee's interest in trade f acilitative solutions to conformity assessment, the 
Chairs of the International Laboratory Accred itation Cooperation (ILAC) and the International 
Accreditation Forum (IAF) gave a presentation at  the TBT Committee meeting in June 2011 on the 
functioning of the ILAC Mutual Recogniti on Arrangement (MRA) and the IAF Multilateral 
Recognition Arrangement (MLA).2  The Committee has recognized that ILAC MRA and the IAF 
MLA are designed to facilitate acceptance of the results of conformity assessment across economies 
(G/TBT/1/Rev.10/Annex A) and that acceptance of the results of conformity assessment facilitates 
trade (G/TBT/1/Rev.10/Section II). 
3. To deepen discussion in the TBT Committe e on how these important arrangements can 
facilitate trade while enabling central government b odies to achieve their objectives, and to further 
Members' implementation of Article 9, the United States submits the experiences of six U.S. agencies with the ILAC MRA and IAF MLA.  Hyperlinks to websites that contain additional programmatic 
information are provided for each example.  In a ddition, the United States provides an example of 
recent guidance to U.S. agencies to promote the choice of trade facilitative conformity assessment 
procedures.  Lastly, the United States provides co nclusions and recommendations for consideration 
under the Sixth Triennial Review. 
                                                      
1 See paragraphs 18-19 of G/TBT/26 
2 See paragraphs 317-333 of G/TBT/M/54 and G/TBT/GEN/117 G/TBT/W/349 
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  II. THE EXPERIENCE OF SIX U.S. AGENCIES  
A. 
USE OF THE ILAC MRA BY THE U .S. CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION  
4. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), adopted into law in August 2008, 
requires certification, based on testing by a th ird party conformity assessment body, of certain 
children’s products.  The CPSIA required the Co nsumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to 
establish its own accreditation program or designate  an independent accreditation.  After careful 
consideration of the considerable resources and time necessary to set up its own system, CPSC 
decided to rely on existing in ternational arrangements.  
5. In 2008, the CPSC issued regulations to rec ognize test data associated with children’s 
products coming from laboratories accredited by an  ILAC MRA signatory accreditation body.  CPSC 
registers laboratories which can perform compliance  testing based upon a simple application process 
identifying the relevant scope of accreditation from an ILAC MRA signatory accreditation body.  
6. This enabled CPSC to leverage its limited res ources yet provide for the acceptance of test data 
originating from the countries of export and reduc ing the need for redundant testing upon import.   
(a) Further information is available at: 
- http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/labaccred.html  
B. USE OF ILAC MRA BY FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION , U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 
TRANSPORTATION  
7. In September 2007, The Federal Highway Admi nistration (FHWA) revised its regulation on 
the general requirements for quality assurance proce dures for construction on all Federal-aid highway 
projects on the National Highway System.  After two years of implementation, FHWA requires (since 
September 2009) accreditation of laboratories that conduct crash tests on roadside hardware by an 
accrediting body that is a signatory to the ILAC  MRA or the National Cooperation for Laboratory 
Accreditation (NACLA).  The FHWA determined that using accredited laboratories will improve the agency's ability to trust that crash test laboratori es are qualified to conduct a nd evaluate tests intended 
to determine the crashworthiness of roadside safety features.  FHWA also determined that laboratory 
accreditation is widely recognized as a reliable indicator of technical competence.   
(a) Further information is available at: 
- "http://govpulse.us/entries/2007/09/24/E7-18725/crash-test-laboratory-
requirements-for-fhwa-roadside- safety-hardware-acceptance " 
C. USE OF ILAC MRA BY THE U .S. COAST GUARD , U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY  
8. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) accepts test re sults for lifesaving and fire safety equipment 
and materials from independent laboratories that have ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation from an 
accreditation body that is a full member of ILAC.  In  October 2011, the USCG issued an interim rule 
to harmonize the USCG accepted independent laborat ories program with the International Maritime 
Organization’s new guidelines on lifesaving equipment.   The new rule cited scheduling delays and 
increased expenses as a reason for using laboratori es accredited through the ILAC process versus the 
use of Coast Guard-employed inspectors.  Add itionally, the USGC called out the modern trading 
system where many manufacturers produce lifesaving equipment for multiple flag nations' vessels, and must have their equipment approved by each nation.  Using a third-party, accredited testing  G/TBT/W/349 
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  laboratories would allow manufacturers to satisfy requirements from multiple nations, which stops the 
need for duplicative tests.   
(a) Further information is available at: 
- http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg5214/lab_approval.asp  
D. USE OF ILAC MRA BY THE U .S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION  
9. The General Services Administration requires st ar-of-life ambulances procured by the United 
States Government to be tested by an inde pendent ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory by an 
accreditation body that is a signatory to the ILAC MRA. 
(a) Further information is available at: 
- "http://apps.fss.gsa.gov/vehiclestanda rds/_documents/2011Final/1822%20SI
N%20211GM%202011-7.1.2010.pdf"  
E. USE OF THE ILAC MRA AND IAF MLA BY THE U .S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY  
10. The ENERGY STAR and WaterSense programs in clude requirements that test data from 
third-party laboratories come from labs accredited by  signatories to the ILAC MRA.  In addition, 
certification bodies that review this test data must be accredited by signatories to the IAF MLA.  Both 
programs are administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, but participation is voluntary 
rather than mandatory.  EPA cites these internatio nal arrangements to provide greater assurance to 
consumers that products carrying the ENERGY STAR  and WaterSense labels meet strict program 
requirements.    
(a) Further information is available at: 
- http://www.energystar.gov   
- http://www.epa.gov/watersense/  
F. RULEMAKING BY THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION OF THE U .S. DEPARTMENT OF 
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES ON LABORATORY ACCREDITATION FOR ANALYSES OF FOOD  
11. Over 10 years ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pursued and obtained 
accreditation of its food testing laboratories.   In January 2009, FDA issued a draft guidance document 
on data packages that addressed its preference to ha ve food tested by laboratories accredited by an 
ILAC MRA signatory accreditation body  to assure data credibility.   
(a) Further information is available at: 
- http://www.fda.gov/RegulatoryInformation/Guidances/ucm125434.htm .  G/TBT/W/349 
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  12. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), en acted on January 4, 2011, gives a statutory 
mandate to the FDA for recognition of laboratory acc reditation associated with testing of food.  FDA 
is developing regulations to im plement this provision.  Informa tion on implementation of FSMA is 
available on the FDA website, including informati on about the various FSMA regulations (when 
published).  
(a) Further information is available at: 
- http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FSMA/ .  
III. RECENT GUIDANCE TO U.S. AGENCIES AND DEPARTMENTS ON FEDERAL 
ENGAGEMENT IN STANDARDIZATION 
13. On 12 January 2012, three White House agencies – the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, the Office of Science and Technology Policy  and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative 
– issued a memorandum for the heads of Executive Departments and Agencies entitled “ Principles for 
Federal Engagement in Standards Ac tivities to Address National Priorities .”  The goal of the 
memorandum  was to clarify principles for engagement  in those limited instances in which the Federal 
Government takes on a convening or active engagement role together with private sector 
standardization organizations to address a nationa l priority.  It is notable, however, that the 
memorandum also contained guidance aimed to stre ngthen implementation of Article 9 of the TBT 
Agreement: 
"Agencies should explicitly include cons ideration of conformity assessment 
approaches that take account of elements from international systems, to encourage 
private sector support and minimize duplicative testing.  Agencies should evaluate 
whether their objectives necessitate creating government-unique conformity 
assessment schemes, which may be expensive to develop and maintain, may impose additional costs on the private sector, a nd may not be recognized beyond national 
boundaries.  In doing so, agencies should use existing best practices and leverage available resources in the private sector as well as within the Federal Government." 
(a) Further information is available at: 
- "http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2012/m-12-
08.pdf"  
IV. RECOMMENDATION 
14. In summary, the United States has found that the ILAC MRA and the IAF MLA can help 
domestic regulators and other authorities in achievi ng their agency objectives and priorities.  The 
ILAC MRA and IAF MLA are both co st effective and can provide a robust way to ensure that 
products meet the requirements set out in technical regulations and standards.  The United States has 
found, to date, that reliance on the ILAC MRA and the IAF MLA can help build a globally robust and 
trade facilitative scheme that enabl es U.S. agencies to fulfil their mission.  This, in turn, facilitates 
confidence that products comply.  The United Stat es would welcome efforts by other Members to 
share their experiences on use of the ILAC MRA and IAF MLA.  In addition, the United States 
recommends that the Committee deepen its work on strengthening implementation of Article 9.  In 
this regard, we note the importance of the prev iously agreed recommendations of the Committee, 
specifically II.A(a)(i) and II.A(a)(iii) of G/TBT/1/Rev.10.   
 
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