Initialisms and Acronyms
Following is a list of initialisms and acronyms commonly used by ANAB and the conformity assessment community.
Initialism/Acronym | Definition |
AAQG | Americas Aerospace Quality Group |
AB | Accreditation body |
AC | Accreditation Council |
ACC | American Chemistry Council |
ACLASS | Former ANAB brand for accreditation of calibration and test laboratories, inspection bodies, RMPs, and PT providers |
ANAB | ANSI National Accreditation Board |
ANSI | American National Standards Institute, owner of ANAB |
APAC | Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (joined APLAC and PAC 2019/01/01) |
APLAC | Former Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation, now APAC |
ASQ | American Society for Quality |
ATFS | American Tree Farm System, program for forestry management systems |
CAB | Conformity assessment body |
CASCO | ISO’s Committee on Conformity Assessment |
CB | Certification body, also known as a registrar |
CD | Committee draft, a stage in the development of a standard |
CEPD | Counterfeit Electronics Prevention for Distributors |
DIS | Draft International Standard, a stage in the development of a standard |
DoD | U.S. Department of Defense |
DoE | U.S. Department of Energy |
EA | European Cooperation for Accreditation, association of European accreditation bodies |
ELAP | Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (of DoD) |
EMS | Environmental management systems |
EnMS | Energy management systems |
EPA | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
e-Stewards® | Recycling standard |
EU | European Union |
FAA | U.S. Federal Aviation Administration |
FBI QAS | U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Quality Assurance Standards |
FCC | U.S. Federal Communications Commission |
FDA | U.S. Food and Drug Administration |
FDIS | Final Draft International Standard, a stage in the development of a standard |
FOE | Field of experience |
FQA | U.S. Fastener Quality Act |
FQS | Former ANAB brand for accreditation of forensic testing labs and forensic inspection agencies |
FSMO | Field sampling and measurement organization |
FSMS | Food safety management systems |
GFSI | Global Food Safety Initiative |
GHG | Greenhouse gas |
GSA | Gaming Standards Association; U.S. General Services Administration |
HACCP | Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (for food safety) |
IAAC | InterAmerican Accreditation Cooperation |
IAAR | Independent Association of Accredited Registrars |
IAF | International Accreditation Forum |
IAQG | International Aerospace Quality Group |
ICOP | Industry controlled other party (aerospace program) |
IEC | International Electrotechnical Commission, with ISO and ITU constitutes major international standards developing organizations |
IIOC | Independent International Organization for Certification, an association of CBs |
ILAC | International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation |
ILC | Inter-laboratory comparisons |
IQNET | International Quality Network, association of CBs |
ISMS | Information security management systems |
ISO | International Organization for Standardization, with IEC and ITU constitutes major international standards developing organizations |
ISRI | Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (responsible for RIOS) |
MLA | Multilateral recognition agreement or arrangement |
MOU | Memorandum of understanding |
MRA | Mutual recognition agreement or arrangement, multilateral recognition arrangement |
NACE | Nomenclature des activités économiques (common statistical classification of economic activities) |
NACLA | U.S. National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation |
NADCAP | U.S. National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program |
NAICS | North American Industry Classification System (replaced SIC system) |
NEFAP | National Environmental Field Activities Program |
NGO | Non-governmental organization |
NIST | U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology |
NLLAP | EPA’s National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program |
NRC | Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
NRTL | U.S. Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory |
NVLAP | U.S. National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program of NIST |
NWIP | New work item proposal (at ISO) |
OHSMS | Occupational health and safety management systems |
OSHA | U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration |
PAC | Former Pacific Accreditation Cooperation, now APAC |
PEFC | Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes |
PT | Proficiency testing |
QMS | Quality management systems |
QuEST Forum | Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications Leadership Forum |
RC | Responsible Care® program of ACC |
RCMS | Responsible Care® management systems |
RIOS | Recycling Industry Operating Standard |
RMC | Registrar Management Committee of AAQG |
RMP | Reference material producer |
R2 | Responsible Recycling standard |
SCSMS | Supply chain security management systems |
SDO | Standards developing organization |
SIC | Standard Industrial Classification system (replaced in 1997 by NAICS) |
SFI | Sustainable Forestry Initiative |
SME | Small and medium-sized enterprises |
SMS | Service management systems |
TBT | Technical barriers to trade (see also WTO) |
TC | Technical committee |
TF | Task force |
TG | Task group |
TNI | The NELAC Institute |
UNCTAD | United Nations Conference on Trade and Development |
UNIDO | United Nations Industrial Development Organization |
WD | Working draft |
WG | Working group |
WTO | World Trade Organization |