ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement
The arrangement through which signatory accreditation bodies mutually recognise each other's accreditations, so that a test or calibration result issued under an accredited scope in one economy is accepted in another. It is what turns a national accreditation into an internationally portable one.
What this does not cover
stated in the document's own scope- Recognises accreditations, not individual test results in advance; acceptance follows because the issuing laboratory is accredited by a signatory body within its scope.
- Covers laboratory and inspection accreditation (ISO/IEC 17025 / 17020 / 15189), not management-system or product certification, which fall under the IAF MLA.
- Is a voluntary arrangement between accreditation bodies, not a regulation; any legal obligation to accept accredited results comes from a regulator or trade agreement.
Always verify against the current published text before relying on it for a submission or inspection.
Overview
The ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement is the arrangement through which signatory accreditation bodies formally recognise the equivalence of each other’s accreditation programmes. Its effect is portability: a testing or calibration result issued within an accredited scope in one economy is accepted in another whose accreditation body is an MRA signatory, under the principle of "tested or calibrated once, accepted everywhere". The recognition is a property of the accreditation body, not of any single laboratory — it is the accreditation body that is peer-evaluated and admitted to the arrangement, and laboratories then inherit international acceptance by being accredited by an MRA signatory.
Scope & applicability
Laboratories accredited by an ILAC MRA signatory body, and any organisation relying on a test result issued in another economy.
Legal basis & how it acquires force
The ILAC MRA is a private multilateral arrangement among accreditation bodies, coordinated by ILAC (the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation); it is not a treaty and carries no statutory force. Signatory accreditation bodies are admitted only after peer evaluation confirms they operate to the relevant international standards — ISO/IEC 17025 for testing and calibration laboratories, ISO/IEC 17020 for inspection, ISO 15189 for medical laboratories. Where a regulator or trade agreement chooses to rely on accredited results, the legal weight comes from that instrument; the MRA supplies the mutual-recognition infrastructure it relies on.
Document structure
| Part | Covers |
|---|---|
| The arrangement and its scope | Which conformity-assessment activities the MRA covers — testing, calibration, inspection, and medical testing |
| Signatory accreditation bodies | The peer-evaluated accreditation bodies that are parties to the arrangement |
| Peer evaluation | The evaluation process by which an accreditation body demonstrates equivalence before signing |
| Underlying standards | The ISO/IEC conformity-assessment standards (17025, 17020, 15189) that accredited bodies apply |
| The ILAC MRA mark | The combined accreditation-symbol / ILAC MRA mark that signals internationally recognised accredited results |
Key requirements
- Accreditation held from a current ILAC MRA signatory body
- The relied-upon test within that laboratory's accredited scope
- Verification of signatory and scope status through the published ILAC signatory search
Implementation tips
- Record the accreditation body and its ILAC signatory status in the supplier qualification file, not just the laboratory name
- Do not treat MRA recognition as equivalent to a GMP mutual recognition agreement — they cover different things and are granted by different mechanisms
- Re-verify at periodic supplier review; signatory status and scopes both change
Where this control fails
live FDA enforcementLive FDA recalls SPEQ maps to this standard’s topics — a SPEQ interpretation, not an FDA classification.
International alignment
The ILAC MRA sits alongside the IAF (International Accreditation Forum) MLA for management-system and product certification, and the two coordinate globally. Regionally it is built on cooperations such as APAC and EA whose recognitions feed the ILAC arrangement. Its foundation standard for laboratories is ISO/IEC 17025, so an ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation from an MRA-signatory body is what makes a result internationally portable.
ILAC MRA: frequently asked questions
Quick answers to common questions about ILAC MRA.
What does the ILAC MRA actually recognise?
It recognises the equivalence of signatory accreditation bodies. Because those bodies are peer-evaluated to the same standards, the accredited results their laboratories issue are accepted across MRA economies — recognition is a property of the accreditation body, not of the individual laboratory.
How does a laboratory benefit from the ILAC MRA?
By being accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 by an accreditation body that is an MRA signatory, a laboratory’s in-scope results gain international acceptance — supporting the "tested or calibrated once, accepted everywhere" principle.
Is the ILAC MRA legally binding?
No. It is a voluntary multilateral arrangement among accreditation bodies, not a treaty. Its practical force comes when regulators and trade agreements choose to rely on accredited results.
This standard in practice
Recall domain is a SPEQ mapping of this standard’s topics, not an FDA classification.