Mission: The International Electoral Accreditation Body works to promote transparency and quality in elections by supporting the certification of election management bodies against international electoral standards. We strengthen electoral institutions and maintain the integrity of electoral standards by ensuring that electoral-body certifications are carried out by highly-qualified professional certification bodies in an impartial manner that generates public confidence.

Structure: The International Electoral Accreditation Body is an Office within Secretariat for Strengthening Democracy of the Organization of American States, and the principal area responsible for the management, coordination and delivery of electoral accreditation services.

The IEAB supports electoral-body certifications in the following ways:

• Granting accreditations to CAB's that perform certification assessments of electoral bodies against ISO/TS 54001 and other electoral standards.
• Maintaining and enforcing assessment processes, procedures and support materials that accredited institutions must follow for performing electoral-body certifications.
• Making approval decisions based on the review of certification decisions and reports submitted by CAB's.
• Granting authorizations to professionals who seek to lead IEAB-sanctioned certification assessments and deliver IEAB-licensed training courses.
• Maintaining a suite of formal training courses for the training of auditors and CAB personnel in ISO electoral standards.
• Delivering IEAB training courses to authorization candidates and other interested parties.

Link to Executive Order (http://www.oas.org/legal/english/gensec/EXOR1401REV1.pdf)

International Electoral Accreditation Body: Principal Functions

Accreditation: The IEAB is responsible for accrediting conformance assessment bodies (CABs) to perform certification audits of electoral management bodies. Accreditation is conducted through an assessment based on information submitted by a candidate CAB, in response to detailed questions from an in-depth questionnaire that makes the CAB's case for accreditation by describing its management system, quality policies and procedures, and technical capabilities. The candidate CAB will accompany its submission with evidence to support its responses, in the form of records and documents. Upon receiving a request for accreditation and the accompanying information submission from a candidate CAB, the IEAB will review the package to determine whether the CAB has the organization, processes, experience, and capability to qualify for accreditation. If so, it will accredit on the basis of this review, with the express condition that the CAB must use only IEAB-authorized practitioners during certification assessments.

Authorization: The IEAB is also responsible for authorizing auditors and lead auditors involved in certification assessments, as well as trainers in ISO/TS 54001:2019. In a process that mirrors the accreditation function, auditor and trainer candidates are required to submit information on their skills, experience and commitment to code of ethics to be reviewed by the IEAB. The IEAB is also responsible to ensuring that all auditors and lead auditors have completed the necessary training courses in the electoral standard and in IEAB auditing methodology.

Training: The IEAB is responsible for overseeing the training of auditors and conformance assessment body personnel in ISO/TS 54001: 2014, employing specific training modules designed by the IEAB.

Review: One of the fundamental roles of the IEAB is the final review of certification decisions made by IEAB-accredited conformance assessment bodies to verify compliance with required procedures. The IEAB retains the right to accept, deny or request further information on the certification decisions submitted by conformance assessment bodies.

How does the Certification Process work?

Why the OAS?
The OAS, given its prestige in the electoral domain, its reputation an as impartial promoter of electoral excellence, and its leadership in the development of ISO/TS 54001, is uniquely suited to the role of an Electoral Accreditation Body. The IEAB is dedicated to promoting a standard of excellence in the electoral community, by exercising oversight over certification process and assuring that those who emit certifications possess the requisite qualifications, seriousness and competence to do so.