(A2LA: Frederick, MD) -- The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) is proud to announce the expansion of its laboratory accreditation activities to encompass the ENERGY STAR program, the joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy that protects the environment through energy efficient products and practices.

On June 30, the EPA released its Final Conditions and Criteria for Recognition of Accreditation Bodies and Final Conditions and Criteria for Recognition of Testing Laboratories documents. The A2LA had no problems meeting or exceeding the EPA criteria based upon their experience and positive mutual recognition agreement evaluations. The A2LA is now recognized by the EPA to provide accreditation for ENERGY STAR testing laboratories that perform product testing in support of the ENERGY STAR program and its specific product family test methods and requirements.

The criteria for testing laboratory recognition by the EPA require laboratories to provide objective evidence of compliance to ISO/IEC 17025, via gaining and maintaining accreditation through an EPA-recognized accreditation body or alternately the laboratory may participate in an EPA-recognized certification body’s supervised or witnessed manufacturer’s testing laboratory program (SMTL/WMTL). The EPA also enacted additional requirements for laboratories to comply with in an effort to maintain impartiality between testing laboratories and manufacturers, in the event that a manufacturer’s in-house laboratory gains accreditation for the purposes of ENERGY STAR product testing.

The A2LA has created the “R222—Specific Requirements: EPA ENERGY STAR Accreditation Program” document, highlighting the specific areas that go above and beyond the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025. All applicant and currently accredited laboratories must demonstrate compliance to both ISO/IEC 17025:2005 as well as these additional requirements to be recognized by the EPA as a testing laboratory for the ENERGY STAR program.

The criteria for accreditation body EPA recognition rely heavily on the ability of the accrreditation body to demonstrate that they are signatories to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA). As a signatory to this MRA, the accreditation body must be able to demonstrate evidence of compliance to the ISO/IEC 17011 standard, and must undergo rigorous periodic peer evaluations by other signatories to the ILAC MRA.

The A2LA accredited its first testing laboratory more than 30 years ago, and that laboratory continues to maintain accreditation through the A2LA. This wealth of experience has positioned the A2LA to be committed to the improvement of laboratory data quality, resulting in providing confidence to the data users while providing exemplary customer service to its accredited entities.

The A2LA is currently accepting new applications for accreditation from laboratories who intend to test to the newly enacted EPA ENERGY STAR requirements. Further, the A2LA is working with existing accredited laboratories to add compliance with these new requirements to their existing scopes of accreditation. There are resources devoted to ensure prompt attention to all interested parties’ needs. Visit www.a2la.org for more information.