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2005-11-16 Comparing Accreditation and Registration
This document is intended to provide information to organizations interested in becoming Authorized Service Providers to inspect and certify devices pursuant to the Weights and Measures Act.
Interested organizations may be wondering what their choices are and whether they should seek accreditation or registration. Both the accreditation and registration programs established by Measurement Canada have the same objective: to authorize qualified organizations to inspect and certify instruments on Measurement Canada’s behalf.
The pursuit of accreditation or registration is a business decision which can only be made by an interested organization depending on the trade sector(s) in which the organization is or wants to get involved in; the investment in money and resources that it is ready to make; as well as the results from the different trade sector reviews. It is also important that interested organizations have an understanding that each of these programs has its advantages and its disadvantages.
There are two fundamental differences between the accreditation and registration programs:
(1) An accredited organization must document, establish and maintain a quality management system which meets the requirements of Measurement Canada’s accreditation standard, S-A-01. This requirement does not apply to a registered organization. As a result, there is more frequent Measurement Canada monitoring of recognized technicians working for registered organization than there is for recognized technicians working for accredited organizations.
(2) The scope of the inspection services which can be provided by registered organizations is directly linked to trade sector review recommendations and may have some limitations. These same limitations do not necessarily apply to an accredited organization.
It should also be noted that mandatory re-certification periods will be instituted for devices based on the recommendations of all trade sectors reviewed to date.
Organizations seeking either accreditation or registration must acquire the necessary measuring and test equipment, inspection certificates, test and non-compliance reports, rejection tags, inspection markings, verification indicators and seals. The specifications and requirements for these items are identical for both programs.
Accreditation
The accreditation program was launched in 1986 for Electricity and Gas organizations and was expanded in 1995 to include Weights and Measures organizations.
Organizations accredited by Measurement Canada are not limited in terms of which trade sectors they can offer their inspection services in. An accredited organization can certify, on Measurement Canada’s behalf, any device under the scope of its accreditation regardless of the sector that the device is used in. For example, if the organization is accredited for the certification of truck scales, it can offer its services to the pulp and paper industry, the petroleum industry, or the grain industry.
The only inspection scope limitations for accredited organizations are those presently stated under Measurement Canada’s S-A-01 accreditation standard.
Weights and Measures organizations accredited by Measurement Canada must have at least one employee attend and successfully complete the mandatory Measurement Canada theoretical training. Organizations can elect to train additional employees themselves, but they all shall be assessed theoretically and practically by Measurement Canada prior to becoming recognized.
Organizations seeking accreditation pursuant to the Weights and Measures Act and the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act shall pay, upon completion of an accreditation audit, a $1000 audit fee. Thereafter, each accredited organization shall pay a $1000 audit fee for each surveillance or expansion of scope audit. When surveillance and expansion of scope audits are combined, a single $1000 audit fee is payable. The applicable Weights and Measures theoretical training fees are $100 for each day or part of a day per technician.
To ensure compliance, the quality management system established by an accredited organization is subject to an annual surveillance audit by Measurement Canada and each recognized technician listed in an accredited organization’s agreement must be audited at least once every three years. In addition, Measurement Canada will conduct product audits on an annual basis and ensure that all device types under an accredited organization’s scope are audited at least once every three years.
Registration
The registration program was launched for Weights and Measures organizations in April 2004 as a result of the downstream petroleum sector review. Initially, stakeholders in the downstream petroleum sector, including vulnerable parties, asked for the development and implementation of such a program. The registration program may be modified in future years to address requests resulting from stakeholder consultations in other sectors.
The terms and conditions for the registration set out the requirements of the program.
The registration program is offered only following a consensus of the stakeholders of a given trade sector and is subject to approval by the Senior Management Committee of Measurement Canada. Some trade sectors may only offer registration for certain inspection types. For example, the stakeholders from the retail food sector have selected accreditation only for initial inspections, and accreditation or registration for subsequent inspections.
In order to better explain how accreditation and registration differ, let’s take the example of a service provider that has registration for truck scale inspections in certain trade sectors only. Under the current scope of the registration program, an organization could be authorized to certify truck scales used in the downstream petroleum sector, but may not be authorized to certify identical devices used in some other trade sectors.
Weights and Measures organizations registered by Measurement Canada must have all potential recognized technicians attend and successfully complete the mandatory Measurement Canada theoretical training. All potential recognized technicians must successfully pass theoretical and practical evaluations by Measurement Canada prior to becoming recognized.
The organization shall pay an initial registration fee of $1000 prior to being granted registration. Subsequently, an annual fee of $1000 shall be paid by the organization to maintain registration. If an organization has had its registration involuntarily revoked and is reapplying, a fee of $2000 shall be payable at the time of re-application. The applicable Weights and Measures theoretical training fees are $100 for each day or part of a day per technician.
Measurement Canada will visit each registered organization at least once per 12 month period to ensure that the registration program requirements continue to be met. Monitoring of registered organizations will include at least one follow up inspection per recognized technician per device type, at least once every 12 months. Follow-up inspections can occur in the presence or absence of recognized technicians. For technicians who are recognized for more than one device type, at least one of the follow up inspections per 12 month period must be done in the presence of the technician. For technicians recognized for only one device type, the follow up inspection conducted in his/her presence must be done at least once per 24 month period.
For more information about the accreditation or registration programs, please contact the Measurement Canada office nearest you.
Sonia Roussy
Vice-President, Innovative Services Directorate
Measurement Canada
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Measurement Canada
