AKB

The Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action has established an Accreditation Advisory Board (AKB) which supports and advises both the Federal Government and the German Accreditation Body DAkkS in issues related to accreditation.

The tasks of the Accreditation Advisory Board comprise in particular

  • the determination of general and sectoral rules specifying the requirements for conformity assessment bodies and accreditation activities,
  • the promotion of the use of accreditation as a confidence building element of conformity assessment, and
  • the coordination of the German representation and position at the meetings of the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA).

The Accreditation Advisory Board consists of experts from various interested parties. The members of the AKB are appointed for a period of three years by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology in consultation and agreement with the responsible federal ministries.

The AKB meets at least twice a year. The results of the meetings are publicly available.

In the years 2010/2011 the AKB has established eight technical advisory boards assisting the AKB in the determination of sector-relevant and general rules.

Office of the Accreditation Advisory Board

The management of the Accreditation Advisory Board was assigned to the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM).

Background

According to the European Regulation (EC) No. 765/2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance, accreditation is a public authority activity. With effect from 1st January 2010, this activity may be performed by only one single national accreditation body in the Member States.

For this purpose, a Private Limited Company, the Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH (DAkkS, German Accreditation Body) was authorized to perform accreditation services. You find up-to-date information on the activities of the DAkkS at www.dakks.de.

The Act on the Accreditation Body (AkkStelleG) which entered into force in August 2009 constitutes the basis for establishing the DAkkS. Among others, this act governs the tasks and responsibilities of the national accreditation body as well as of the Accreditation Advisory Board.