Written answers
Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
National Standards Authority of Ireland
Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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240. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to confirm whether the NSAI has lost or recently lost any of its international credit actions; if so, to explain the reasons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40306/23]
Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On 11thJuly 2023 the Irish National Accreditation Board (INAB) suspended the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) under ISO/IEC 17021-1 in respect of certain certification functions. The suspension was on foot of a number of non-conformances which arose from an audit of NSAI’s accreditation under ISO/IEC 17021-1 conducted by INAB in June 2023. The suspension in relation to ISO 17021 does not require any notification to the European Commission as it relates to management systems and not products. NSAI was in a position to continue to provide auditing services under ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 as long as it complied with certain criteria.
NSAI continued to work closely with INAB during the suspension period by providing the technical information required by INAB. This led to the suspension being lifted by INAB on 1stSeptember 2023 i.e., NSAI’s accreditation under ISO/IEC 17021-1 is now restored.
INAB is an independent body. Accreditation is the independent assessment of conformity assessment bodies to ensure that conformity assessment bodies have the technical capacity to perform their duties. Therefore, INAB must be able to carry out its activities in an independent manner. As such, day to day operational matters in relation to the awarding and/or suspension of accreditation is a matter for INAB - the Minister has no role in these operational matters.
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