About Greenhouse Gas Verifiers
INAB offers verification bodies accreditation to the international standard EN ISO 14065:2023 “Greenhouse gases - requirements for greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies for use in accreditation or other forms of recognition”, for the purposes of verification for the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme.
Trading of greenhouse gas emission allowances under the EU Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Trading Directive (2003/87/EC) commenced on the 1st January 2005.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been appointed by the Government as the competent authority in Ireland with the responsibility for implementation of emissions trading. (See https://www.epa.ie/climate/emissionstradingoverview/ ). The legislative framework of the EU ETS was revised in 2018 to enable it to achieve the EU's 2030 emission reduction targets in line with the 2030 climate and energy policy framework and as part of the EU's contribution to the 2015 Paris Agreement. The revised EU ETS Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/410) entered into force on 8 April 2018.
ISO 14065 has a number of requirements for organisational structure, quality management system elements, competence of personnel, confidentiality, etc. The Verification Body must be able to demonstrate conformity with all of these requirements.
Once the verifier has all of the organisational and technical measures in place, and has been operating a verification service for a period of time sufficient to have historical records built up, and to be able to demonstrate that the operation is stable (typically three months minimum), it can apply to INAB for accreditation.
INAB applicant and accredited verifiers are required to implement in full the requirements of ISO 14065, (EU) 2018/2067 and associated EU, European Co-operation for Accreditation (EA), International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and INAB mandatory documents. Verifiers must also comply with EA-6/03 and EU commission guidance documents. These documents provide guidance for the Recognition of Verification Bodies under the EU ETS Directive and are available from https://european-accreditation.org/information-center/ea-publications/ , https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets/monitoring#tab-0-1 and https://www.iaf.nu/articles/Mandatory_Documents_/38 .
Verification bodies wishing to work in Ireland from other EU member states will need to be accredited to ISO 14065, (EU) 2018/2067 and the associated guidance documents, by INAB or another EA member accreditation body. If a verifier is accredited by an EA member other than INAB, the verifier should contact INAB or the EPA before completing work here in Ireland.
Currently, INAB has an arrangement with the Accreditation Body of the Netherlands, RvA, who provide accreditation on behalf of INAB for verifiers based in Ireland, until such time as INAB obtains international signatory status for ISO 14065. It is expected that this agreement will last until 2022/2023.
INAB Accreditation Symbol
The Irish National Accreditation Board strongly mandates accredited organisations to use the accreditation symbol on their reports or certificates.
The accreditation symbol, ownership of which is vested in INAB, is a combination of the Board’s logo in association with the registration number and the accreditation standard. Reference is also made to the organisation’s scope of accreditation.
The use of the symbol is subject to strict criteria laid down in the INAB R1 Regulations.
