The Economic Impact of Accreditation. Report to International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ).

Accreditation is a crucial part of New Zealand’s quality infrastructure. The accreditation services provided by International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) increase the confidence of New Zealand and overseas consumers to purchase products that are produced or tested by accredited organisations. In this report we provide an independent assessment of the economic impact of IANZ.

Accreditation services create an 8 percent price premium for exporters through reduced transaction costs, which leads to improved productivity and profitability. We used our extensive Computational General Equilibrium (CGE) model of the New Zealand economy and identified that IANZ’s accreditation services lead to:

  • a total increase in exports by $3.4b, consisting of an $8.2b increase in exports of industries using accreditation offset by a decrease in exports of industries not using accreditation,
  • 1.6 per cent higher real wages, which increases consumption by $3.3b,
  • $2.4 billion increase in annual GDP of New Zealand.