ACRS international credibility was enhanced by our successful accreditation of the ACRS Product Certification Scheme by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand.  JAS-ANZ is the government-appointed accreditation body for Australia and New Zealand responsible for providing accreditation of conformity assessment bodies (CABs) in the fields of certification and inspection.  

Accreditation by JAS-ANZ demonstrates the governance, independence and conformance of the ACRS scheme with internationally applicable operating procedures for product certification bodies .  ACRS underwent the JAS-ANZ assessment process in the latter part of 2013, and I am pleased to say that the professionalism and rigour of ACRS was confirmed as being in accordance with the then recently released global standard  for third party product certification bodies, ISO/IEC 17065: 2012 in February 2014 – the first product certification body to be so recognised in Australia or New Zealand.

Coupled with ACRS unique, specialised scheme for certifying construction steels to the requirements of the Australian and New Zealand construction industries, designers, specifiers, customers and building certifiers now have increased confidence in the value of ACRS certificates for the demonstration of conformity of structural, prestressing and reinforcing steels to AS/NZS Standards used in their projects

ACRS has indeed come a long way from its initial expansion programme during 2005-6.  Then, ACRS certified 23 sites in only 3 countries.  Today, ACRS assesses and certifies manufacturing & processing at over 160 locations in 20 countries reflecting the continuous growth in demand for ACRS independent, expert certification services.

ACRS increasing recognition and specification has brought its own challenges.  We have experienced increasing numbers of manufacturers and processors that have made enquiry or application for certification being found upon ACRS review to fall short of the minimum requirements demanded by AS/NZS Standards.

ACRS unique, rigorous and expert assessment capability has successfully maintained a level playing field for customers, specifiers and compliant producers alike.  

ACRS is continuing to liaise with government and standards setting bodies developing conformity schemes, so that it can provide a one-stop shop service of third-party certification across construction steels supply.  Leveraging the strength of the ACRS brand and ACRS rigorous and internationally recognised certification capability is the value we can offer to everyone concerned about the compliance of construction steels and associated products supplied in Australia and New Zealand. The complementary ACRS ISO 9001 scheme is accredited to ISO/IEC 17021.1: 2015.