UKAS

UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) is the sole national accreditation body recognized by the British government. For North American manufacturers exporting to Great Britain, UKAS plays a pivotal role similar to ANAB or A2LA in the United States. It is the entity that audits and verifies the competence of Accredited Laboratories and certification bodies within the UK.

This is particularly important for UKCA Marking. If your machinery falls under the "high-risk" category and requires mandatory third-party approval, you must use a UK Approved Body. These bodies derive their official status and technical authority directly from UKAS accreditation. Without this specific accreditation, a lab's certification carries no legal weight for statutory inspections in the UK.

For general testing, UKAS is a signatory to the ILAC mutual recognition agreement. This often allows test data from North American ISO 17025 labs to be accepted for UK compliance. However, if Trading Standards investigates a product, they will look for test reports from labs with accreditation recognized by or equivalent to UKAS to validate the Conformity Assessment.