Georgian Accreditation Centre

1. About accreditationAccreditation is a formal recognition of competence of a conformity assessment body (CAB).CABs can be laboratories (testing, calibration, medical), inspection bodies or certificationbodies (for Product, Persons or Management systems). Usually, accreditation is granted bythe national accreditation body. It acts according to the International rules under the authorityof the state. The national accreditation body of Georgia is called GAC – GeorgianAccreditation Centre.Accreditation is promoted by the European Union to establish the Common Market and isnow recognised internationally as the primary tool for breaking down technical barriers totrade, enabling faster and cost effective trade of goods and services. The logic ofaccreditation is convincing: if a CAB is recognised to be competent, the market can trust inthe certification or testing on conformity of the product with the stated requirements.Thus, there is no need for further control and goods can cross borders without delay oradditional costs. Thus, any economy interested in trade will strive for an internationallyrecognised accreditation body as GAC does.2. About GACThe Georgian Accreditation Centre -GAC- is the nationally recognised accreditation body ofGeorgia. Its mission is to deliver best accreditation services to the Georgian economy.Accreditation services are: granting accreditation surveillance of accredited bodies reaccreditation extension or reduction of scope Suspension or withdrawal of accreditation.The decisions about accreditation are prepared by an accreditation committee. Therecommendation is given to the Director General who will sign the relevant documents andtakes formal decision for granting of accreditation.In the case of a no positive decision the customer of GAC has a right to launch an appeal tothe appeals committee of GAC.GAC is operating in full compliance with the internationally applied standard ISO/IEC 17011and European practices which describe the basic codex of its behaviour and in detail how anaccreditation body has to be run.GAC was founded in 2006. It acts under the law “Code on safety and free movement ofproducts” from 2012. Fees for its activities are raised according to a fixed fee structure.