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Recent Accreditations Reflect UL's Global Capability

2 June 1998

Recent Accreditations Reflect UL's Global Capability

    NORTHBROOK, Ill., June 2 -- Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
(UL) is the first US-based registrar to be accredited by the
Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), the Federal Motor Transport Authority for Germany,
and Verband Der Automobilindustrie E.V. (VDA), a trade association for German
automobile manufacturers.
    "The VDA accreditation enables UL to continue to meet the needs of the
automotive supplier community in a growing global market," says UL's Ken
Heffron, Automotive Program Leader.  VDA 6.1 is a German quality standard
similar to North America's QS-9000, quality management system requirements
specific to the automotive industry.  Compliance to the VDA 6.1 Standard
requires that suppliers have documented policies and procedures and that they
can be verified.
    The KBA and VDA accreditations will allow suppliers to German automobile
manufacturers to be registered not only to the QS-9000 Standard but also to
the VDA 6.1 Standard as well.  "Clients and customers of UL can be confident
that we have the capability and resources to audit to the VDA 6.1 Standard of
German automobile manufacturers.  The accreditation process began in early
1998 and was completed in by the end of the first quarter," Heffron says.
    Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) is a national and international,
not-for-profit organization that is best known for its more than a century of
testing products, materials and systems in the interest of public safety.
Since launching its ISO 9000 Registration program in August of 1989, UL has
registered more than 2,700 facilities.  With the addition of the KBA and VDA
accreditations, UL is now formally recognized and accredited by organizations
in the United States, Canada, Europe and Germany.