What is ASE certified?

Keep reading under replies (most of them a load of bo**cks) that the replier is ASE certified.When I served my time I received a certificate telling me that I had city and guilds parts 1,2 and 3. Last week at work we had a "technician" go out to one of our trailers from a recovery company who was also ASE certified who tried to "repair" an air leak on the vehicle by chopping off a QR valve then knocking sh*t out of the ABS modulator block with a 2 pound hammer.It had to be recovered at a cost of 600 quid for the sake of a 50 pence diaphragm due to this moron who had all the bits of paper but no bloody idea.Is ASE a shorthand term for ****?