IAF Publications

The publications section provides information on IAF publications and Auditing Practices Groups. The publications include:

Policy Documents (PL Series): IAF Policy documents set out the policies, including governance requirements that IAF members are expected to follow as well as statements of the IAF viewpoint on current issues.

Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) Documents – (ML Series): The primary purpose of IAF is to establish Multilateral Recognition Arrangements (MLA) between its accreditation body members in order to contribute to the freedom of world trade by eliminating technical barriers to trade.

IAF Informative Documents (ID Series): IAF Informative Documents reflect the consensus of IAF members on this subject and are intended to support the consistent application of requirements.

IAF Mandatory Documents (MD Series): IAF publishes Mandatory Documents which are required to be used by accreditation bodies when accrediting certification/registration bodies to assure that they operate their programs in a consistent and equivalent manner.

Procedures Documents (PR Series): IAF Procedures documents lay down the procedures to be followed in implementing the IAF program, spelling out the procedures and processes which must be followed in order to satisfy the IAF Objectives, Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws.

IAF-ILAC Joint Publications (A Series): Joint IAF and ILAC documents used for the evaluation of regions, unaffiliated bodies and inspection bodies.

Accreditation Auditing Practices Group (AAPG) Documents : The AAPG has prepared a number of papers and presentations on accreditation auditing practices, against the International Standards and Guides produced by ISO/CASCO.

ISO 9001 Auditing Practices Group (APG) Documents: The APG has prepared a number of papers and presentations on auditing QMSs.

ISO 14001 Auditing Practices Group (APG) Documents: The APG has prepared a number of papers and presentations on auditing EMSs.

Documents for General Information: This page contains a number of IAF documents which are made available publicly for information to assist people interested in understanding IAF and its operations.

Promotional Documents : A range of resource materials promoting accreditation and accredited certification will be added to this page as they become available. These are for use by IAF members, their accredited certification bodies and other stakeholders interested in accreditation.

Note: Many of the publications available above reference the use of International Standards as part of the requirements for accreditation, so you may be wondering how to do this while respecting copyright. Copyright allows IEC and ISO to safeguard the use of the content of International Standards so that the integrity and authenticity of that content is preserved, and that content can be revised, translated and also maintained. This means that customers and other stakeholders can always trust that they’re getting the real deal when using standards from IEC, ISO and their respective national members. The IAF, ILAC and ISO strongly encourage everyone to respect copyright of all international standards and only use those copies which meet the copyright requirements.