Accreditation Authority

Calibration Laboratory VENTURI CALIBRATION SERVICES is accredited by the Czech Republic State Authority CAI (Czech Accreditation Institute)

Czech Accreditation Institute (CAI)

CAI was established on 1 January 1993 by the Ministry of Economy of the Czech Republic as allowance organisation (an institution receiving contributions from the state budget), and pursuant to Act No. 20/1993 Coll. CAI functioned as a state administration body. Since 1 November 1996 CAI was managed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT). On 1 July 1998 the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued a Resolution No. 135/98 entrusting the performance of accreditation to the public service company Czech Institute for Accreditation (Český institut pro akreditaci) which was subsequently authorised to perform accreditation under the Act No. 22/1997 Coll., on technical requirements for products.

CAI is EC notified as national accreditation body to operate accreditation of the following bodies:

Testing and Calibration Laboratories according to ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005
Clinical laboratories according to ČSN EN ISO 15189:2007
Various types of bodies performing inspection according to ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17020:2005/ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17020:2012
Bodies performing certification of products according to ČSN EN 45011:1998/ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17065:2013
Bodies performing audit and certification of the management systems according to ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17021:2011
Personnel accreditation bodies according to ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17024:2003/ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17024:2013
Greenhouse gases verifiers according to ČSN ISO 14065:2008 and Commission Regulation(EU) No. 600/2012
Verifiers of environmental statements issued within the EMAS programme according to Regulation of the European Parliament and of Council No. 761/2001, or Regulation of the European Parliament and of Council No. 1221/2009
Organisers of proficiency testing programmes according to ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17043:2010.

Apart from provision of public beneficial services (see CAI´s Memorandum of Association and Statute), CAI is entitled to conduct additional activities, such as out-of-school education and workshops, organisation of courses and trainings, including lecturing and also publishing and editorial activities.

In the CzechRepublic, CAI has developed an accreditation system, in compliance with international requirements and rules (established by EC and EA), which seeks an achievement of a system comparable with the systems used in EU and EFTA countries. The activity was therefore, from the outset, focused on international co-operation with an objective to become member in the reputable international organisations dealing with accreditation and a signatory of multilateral agreements.

CAI is currently a full member of:

European Co-operation for Accreditation (EA): regional organisations associating national accreditation bodies,
International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC): international organisation associating accreditation bodies operating accreditation of laboratories and inspection bodies,
International Accreditation Forum (IAF): international organisation associating accreditation bodies operating accreditation of certification bodies,
Forum of the Accreditation and Licensing Bodies (FALB): forum of the Accreditation and Licensing Bodies,

and a signatory of all existing multilateral agreements (EA MLA, ILAC MRA and IAF MLA).

Successful result of the mutual evaluation conducted by EA members (so called peer-evaluation) for individual accreditation fields is a precondition for becoming a signatory of multilateral agreements, which is then based on regularly repeated evaluations.