Conformity Assessment Bodies (“CABs”) are technical auditors. They check whether organisations and systems are operating in line with particular standards.
CABs exist within a global structure where each country designates a supervisory body to accredit each CAB when it is considered capable of specific audits in a particular field. In the UK, that body is the UK Accreditation Service. In Australia, it is known as JAS-ANZ. These accreditation bodies are coordinated under the ILAC Treaty, which creates mutual recognition internationally of audits carried out by approved CABs.
The audits themselves are either carried out directly against a particular international standard e.g. ISO 27001 on quality management systems, or on approved Schemes derived from one or more international standards, e.g. the Age Check Certification Scheme that is based on ISO 27566-1, IEEE 2089.1 and a number of other relevant technical standards.
This global ecosystem also enables “co-regulation” where regulators can acknowledge CAB certification, and focus their attention on organisations that are not certified. It also reduces the number of experts with technical knowledge that regulators need to maintain in-house, as without it, regulators would need to conduct many more detailed technical reviews directly.
Certification can also be a virtuous circle, as auditors learn and share best practice as they move from one organisation to another (subject to some restrictions that would otherwise compromise their independence).
The AVPA will require, by the end of 2026, that all Full Members offering age assurance solutions, are certified by the Age Check Certification Scheme or any equivalent approved by the AVPA Executive.