The Executive Agency "Bulgarian Accreditation Service" (BAS) is the sole national body for accreditation of:
•testing laboratories and calibration laboratories;
•product certification bodies, management systems certification bodies, persons certification bodies;
•inspection bodies;
•environmental verifiers.
EA "BAS" is a full member of the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) since 2001. The agency participates in the sessions of the EA General Assembly with the right to vote.
EA "BAS" is a signatory to the Multilateral Agreement for mutual recognition of the accreditation schemes for the following fields:
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Calibration laboratories;
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Testing laboratories;
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Inspection bodies;
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Products certification bodies;
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Persons certification bodies;
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Management systems certification bodies;
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Environmental management systems certification bodies.
Executive Agency "BAS" operates on the basis of the BDS EN 45000: 1993 series of standards, EN ISO/IEC 17000 series of standards and the EA and ISO/IEC guidance documents. Executive Agency "BAS" has developed and adopted for implementation a variety of regulations, norms, procedures, documents and organizational practices.
The Executive Agency "BAS" co-operates with natural and legal entities from the governmental and non-governmental sector.
The managing body of the agency is the Executive Director, who is supported by an Accreditation Council, which is a permanent acting body and consists of 26 members, representatives of:
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Ministries;
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Organizations representing industry;
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Organizations representing consumers;
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Organizations repreenting experts;
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Organizations representing accredited bodies.
For the individual fields of accreditation are established Technical Accreditation Committees which have advisory functions with regard to the technical requirements for accreditation and technical issues related to the implementation of accreditation systems.
The Accreditation Commission and the Appeals Commission in the structure of EA "BAS" guarantee objectivity and transparency of the accreditation decisions .
The agency carries out educational and qualificational activities for its employee and external assessors on programs ensuring a competence commensurate with the international requirements.
The Executive Agency "BAS" maintains direct business relations and collaborates beneficially with international organizations and national institutions operating in the quality infrastructure.
Through its activity EA "BAS" assures the competitiveness of the manufactured goods against the international and European standards for quality and safety, and enhances their recognition on the Bulgarian and world market.
INFORMATION ON PERFORMED BY EA “BAS” ANALYSIS IN TERMS OF IDENTIFICATION OF RELATED BODIES
In pursuance of item 4.3.7 of БДС EN ISO/IEC 17011, EA “BAS” performs a documented analysis in terms of the related to the agency bodies, which is reported on management review and presented for information to the stakeholders in the person of the Accreditation Council.
EA “BAS” has performed such analysis through study of all Ministries and their elated structures, as has identified and documented the ones which provide conformity assessment services or consultation services and has analyzed its relations with them, with the aim to determine a possibility of conflict of interests.
In conclusion, the performed analysis presents that the relevant structures identified as related to the agency bodies:
- have different superior management for the activities described in item 4.2.5 of ISO/IEC 17011:2004;
- have personnel, different from the one engaged in the process of accreditation decision-making;
- do not have the possibility to influence the results of the assessment for accreditation, and
- have entirely different names, logos and symbols,
therefore they do not compromise the confidentiality, objectivity and impartiality of the accreditation activity carried out by EA “BAS”.