Founded in 1994 under the law of 1 July 1901, Cofrac was designated as the sole national accreditation body by the Decree of 19 December 2008, thus recognising accreditation as an undertaking with public authority.
All bodies with an interest linked to accreditation are represented within the General Assembly and the Board of Administrators, as well as in any decision-making processes.
It includes representation from various parties with an interest in accreditation thanks to the active members of Cofrac assigned as follows to the three colleges present on the Board of Administrators and the General Assembly:
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College A
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Accredited bodies or their groupings
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College B
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Professional groupings of companies or persons, representative organisations of buyers using or potentially using services provided by bodies from College A
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College C
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Representatives of national interests (State, State agencies, national institutes, consumers associations, users or environmental protection) responsible for a state function or the defence of collective interests
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Qualified persons are admitted as associate members.
Cofrac is also a permanent team of more than 80 people, all of whom are based in Paris (12th arrondissement) not far from the Gare de Lyon.
Five sections manage the accreditations:
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1. Laboratories, which is itself broken down into four sub-sections: Biology-Biochemistry, Chemistry-Environment, Mechanical, and Physics-Electricity
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2. Inspection
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3. Certifications
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4. Human Health
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Around 200 quality control assessors and more than 800 technical assessors are regularly assigned work by Cofrac.
Around the permanent structure: an internal audit commission charged with regular assessment of the correct functioning of accreditation and Cofrac’s compliance with the requirements applicable to accreditation bodies, and five section committees, corresponding to the five accreditation sections. Six Technical Accreditation Commissions (TAC) are attached to the Laboratories Section Committee: Agri-Food, Chemistry-Environment, Interlaboratory Comparisons, Mechanical-Thermal, Building-Civil Engineering and Electricity-Radiation-Information Technology.