The origins of accreditation in Montenegro are linked to the work of the Yugoslav Accreditation Body (JUAT), established in 1998. JUAT operated accreditation activities as a collegial state body within the then Federal Ministry for Development, Science and Environment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In June 2003, JUAT was restructured into the Accreditation Body of Serbia and Montenegro, operating under the Ministry of Internal Economic Relations of Serbia and Montenegro. During this period, representatives from Montenegro actively participated in the work of JUAT’s expert management bodies.

Following Montenegro’s independence in June 2006 and recognizing the vital importance of establishing and strengthening the national quality infrastructure system, the Government of Montenegro founded the Accreditation Body of Montenegro by Decision on Establishment („Official Gazette of RCG“, No. 21/07, dated 13 April 2007) as an independent, non-profit organization and the sole national authority which performs accreditation of conformity assessment bodies in the public interest.

In 2008, just one year after its establishment, the Accreditation Body of Montenegro (ATCG) granted its first accreditations to conformity assessment bodies, including three testing laboratories, one calibration laboratory and one inspection body. To ensure the necessary competence, and in line with the bilateral Agreement on Technical Cooperation previously signed between the ATCG and the Accreditation Body of Serbia (ATS), experienced lead and technical assessors from ATS were involved in ATCG’s assessment teams. At the same time, ATCG’s own assessors underwent essential training, both by participating in these assessments as observers and through additional professional development programs.

The legal framework governing accreditation in Montenegro was established with the adoption of the Law on Accreditation ("Official Gazette of Montenegro", No. 54/09 dated 10 August 2009). At the time, the law was mainly aligned with Regulation (EC) No. 765/2008 which sets out the legal requirements for accreditation within the European Union. Full harmonization of the national legislative framework with this Regulation was achieved with the adoption of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Accreditation ("Official Gazette of Montenegro", No. 43/2015 dated 31 July 2015).

At the 13th General Assembly of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), held in October 2009 in Vancouver - Canada, the Accreditation Body of Montenegro (ATCG) was granted the status of ILAC Associate Member.

The Accreditation Body of Montenegro (ATCG) was granted full membership in the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) at the 28th EA General Assembly, held in October 2011 in Warsaw - Poland.

Following the development of new accreditation schemes in response to market demand, the Accreditation Body of Montenegro (ATCG) granted first accreditation certificates in the field of product certification (ISO/IEC 17065) in February 2012, in the field of management systems certification (ISO/IEC 17021-1) in January 2017 and in the field of medical examination (ISO 15189) in August 2019.

In December 2023, the Accreditation Body of Montenegro (ATCG) became a signatory to the EA Multilateral Agreement (EA MLA) for the following accreditation fields (schemes): testing (ISO/IEC 17025), calibration (ISO/IEC 17025), medical examination (ISO/IEC 15189), inspection (ISO/IEC 17020) and product certification (ISO/IEC 17065). The EA MLA is a signed agreement between the EA Members whereby the signatories recognize and accept the equivalence of the accreditation systems operated by the signing members, and also the reliability of the conformity assessment results provided by conformity assessment bodies (CABs) accredited by the signing members.

Following the establishment of the common international accreditation organization, Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated, which was formally created in the second half of 2025 through the merger of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), ATCG became an Associate Member of this international accreditation organization on 24 October 2025.