Accreditation
Industry watchdogs and overseers present businesses with accreditation to show consumers that they are creditable, reputable and formally sanctioned organisations. Accreditation is simply the official certification of a company to prove that it abides by rules and regulations as dictated by a governing body. Usually, it is a specific accrediting organisation which designates a company with the seal of approval.
So, for example, a bank must answer to the FSA (Financial Services Authority) and should receive their accreditation in order to do business with consumers. Usually, the process of becoming accredited involves some form of testing; with the governing body assessing a business to ensure its practices are entirely appropriate. This takes place to make absolutely sure that the governing body offering accreditation can be assured of the businesses ethics, quality of service delivery and acceptable working practice.
Often testing labs of any kind need to be accredited and certified in order to offer official documents to customers and uphold a consistent standard of security, confidentiality and safety. In the same way, a good DNA testing lab should have a formal sign of accreditation with the appropriate bodies and authorities.
AABB and ISO 17025 accreditation have both been received by the Genetic Testing Laboratories, which means that customers can rest assured that information and everything pertaining to use of the testing services is in safe hands. Accreditation means peace of mind for consumers and it ensures that if a customer has any concerns or queries there is a governing body close at hand to help sort things out.
