Guidance

National Treatment of Conformity Assessment Bodies (NTCAB) for conformity assessment bodies (CABs) and businesses

Published 28 July 2025

Key points

Following the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) agreement on 15 December 2024, UK conformity assessment bodies (CABs) can now apply for accreditation, approval, or licensing to conformity assess goods against another CPTPP members’ regulations.

To do this, CABs will need to apply for accreditation, approval or licensing from the other CPTPP country’s accreditation or approval body.

Should the application be approved, this will allow the CAB to test against the other country’s regulations in the UK.

This saves time and money for businesses as goods would no longer need to be sent to the other country for testing.

This process is referred to as National Treatment for Conformity Assessment Bodies (NTCAB) under the terms of the CPTPP agreement. It ensures that CABs from any CPTPP country be treated on the same terms as or in an equivalent way to domestic CABs.^{[footnote 1]}

The application process for CABs

If you are a CAB interested in applying to test goods against another CPTPP country’s regulations in the UK, you will need to apply directly to that CPTPP country’s national accreditation or approval body. The details of each CPTPP country’s national accreditation bodies are listed in the table on this page.

To start the application process, you will need to write to the body listed, explaining what goods you would like to be approved to test against and setting out any useful information that would lend positive consideration to your case (for example, proof of ability to test against similar regulatory requirements or standard). There is no fixed process for an application, though CPTPP sets out that foreign applicants should follow equivalent procedures as for domestic bodies.

When applying for accreditation in CPTPP countries, it is recommended that you notify both the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) at info@ukas.com and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) at approvedbodies@businessandtrade.gov.uk. While neither UKAS nor the UK government has a formal role in the accreditation process with other CPTPP countries, informing them can help ensure you receive appropriate support throughout your application.

If your request for approval or accreditation is denied without good reason, contact UKAS and DBT. The UK can challenge these decisions if made unfairly or unreasonably.

CPTPP member	National accreditation or approval bodies
Australia	Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
Brunei	National Standards Centre (within the Ministry of Finance and Economy)
Canada	Standards Council of Canada
Chile	National Standards Institute
Japan	The Japanese Industrial Standards Committee
Malaysia	Department of Standards Malaysia
Mexico	Mexican Accreditation Entity Mexican Accreditation
New Zealand	Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ)
Peru	National Quality Institute
Singapore	Enterprise Singapore Singapore Accreditation Council
United Kingdom	UK Accreditation Service
Vietnam	Bureau of Accreditation

Additional information for businesses seeking conformity assessment services

The changes should not change how you engage UK testing bodies. However, you may find that UK CABs gain additional ability to test against other countries’ regulations.

If the CAB you use has already been accredited in your CPTPP destination market, your product won’t need to be reassessed by a local CAB in that country.

To find out whether a CAB has been accredited in another CPTPP country, contact the CAB directly. You can find the contact details of all approved CABs in the UK in the United Kingdom Market Conformity Assessment Bodies Database .

1. CPTPP is currently only in effect between the UK and Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and New Zealand. It is only these countries that are obliged to provide national treatment to UK CABs. While requests can be made to Canada and Mexico, they are under no obligation to approve or accredit UK CABs on equal terms to their own. ↩