What Does Iso Iec 17025 Stand For

[Apolonio Hicks]

Italso helps facilitate cooperation between laboratories and other bodies by generating wider acceptance of results between countries. Test reports and certificates can be accepted from one country to another without the need for further testing, which, in turn, improves international trade.

ISO/IEC 17025 is useful for any organization that performs testing, sampling or calibration and wants reliable results. This includes all types of laboratories, whether they be owned and operated by government, industry or, in fact, any other organization. The standard is also useful to universities, research centres, governments, regulators, inspection bodies, product certification organizations and other conformity assessment bodies with the need to do testing, sampling or calibration.

The last version of ISO/IEC 17025 was published in 2005 and, since then, market conditions and technology have changed. The new version covers technical changes, vocabulary and developments in IT techniques. It also takes into consideration the latest version of ISO 9001.

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What is ISO/IEC 17025?The term IEC stands for International Electrotechnical Commission which in cooperation with ISO creates the specific system for global standardization. ISO/IEC 17025 is an international standard for testing and calibration laboratories. It was established with the aim of offering quality and improving the processes within laboratories. ISO/IEC 17025 has two key clauses; Management Requirements which are associated with the performance and efficiency of the Quality Management System inside the laboratory, and Technical Requirements which focus on the competencies of employees, testing methodology, equipment, and the test and calibration results.

Becoming certified against ISO/IEC 17025 demonstrates your commitment to implement the requirements of this standard. As a certified professional, you will enable laboratories to demonstrate they operate competently, and are able to generate valid results. In addition, you will be able to increase your job opportunities because there are many large laboratory companies which will value your comprehensive knowledge as a professional in this field. As a matter of fact, many organizations have started to offer contracts only to certified professionals and laboratories, as the majority of customers prefer to receive services from certified labs, consequently, enabling you to maximize your earning potential.

If you are willing to take the challenge of obtaining a ISO/IEC 17025 certification, our experts will ensure a qualitative experience where your needs will be met, and you will become part of our global network family.

ISO 17025 is a quality management system and the main standard for testing and calibration laboratories. ISO 17025 shares many commonalities with ISO 9000 but ISO 17025 evaluates the technical competence in lab testing and calibration services and it applies to organizations that produce testing and calibration results.

To achieve ISO 17025 accreditation, the laboratory's quality management system and technical competence is evaluated thoroughly by a third-party. Audits are conducted on a regular basis to maintain accreditation. ISO 17025 accreditation can only be granted by an authorized accreditation body. Accreditation means that the laboratory has met the Management Requirements and Technical Requirements of ISO17025 and is deemed technically competent to produce calibration and testing results.

ISO 17025 Accreditation proves a laboratory has an acceptable quality management system in place, and it has the ability and competence to provide testing and calibration results. Accredited labs perform tests against the international standards (ISO 17025) and results are mutually acceptable between different governmental and regulatory organizations. The arrangement between accreditation bodies is that accredited members' test results will meet the same minimum quality standard regardless of the accreditation body and that the calibration results would be recognized as if they had performed the calibration themselves.

ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories is the main standard used by testing and calibration laboratories. In most countries, ISO/IEC 17025 is the standard for which most labs must hold accreditation in order to be deemed technically competent. In many cases, suppliers and regulatory authorities will not accept test or calibration results from a lab that is not accredited. Originally known as ISO/IEC Guide 25, ISO/IEC 17025 was initially issued by ISO/IEC in 1999. There are many commonalities with the ISO 9000 standard, but ISO/IEC 17025 is more specific in requirements for competence and applies directly to those organizations that produce testing and calibration results and is based on more technical principles.[1] Laboratories use ISO/IEC 17025 to implement a quality system aimed at improving their ability to consistently produce valid results.[2] Material in the standard also forms the basis for accreditation from an accreditation body.

There have been three releases; in 1999, 2005 and 2017. The most significant changes between the 1999 and 2005 release were a greater emphasis on the responsibilities of senior management, explicit requirements for continual improvement of the management system itself, and communication with the customer. The 2005 release also aligned more closely with the 2000 version of ISO 9001 with regards to implementing continuous improvement.[3]

Some national systems (e.g. UKAS M10 in the UK) were the forerunners of ISO/IEC 17025:1999 but could also be exceedingly prescriptive. ISO/IEC 17025 allows laboratories to carry out procedures in their own ways, but require the laboratory to justify using a particular method.

In common with other ISO quality standards, ISO/IEC 17025 requires continual improvement. Additionally, the laboratory will be expected to keep abreast of scientific and technological advances in relevant areas.

In common with other accreditation standards of the ISO 17000 series (and unlike most ISO standards for management systems), assessment of the laboratory is normally carried out by the national organization responsible for accreditation. Laboratories are therefore "accredited" under ISO/IEC 17025, rather than "certified" or "registered" by a third party service as is the case with ISO 9000 quality standard.

In short, accreditation differs from certification by adding the concept of a third party (Accreditation Body (AB)) attesting to technical competence within a laboratory in addition to its adherence and operation under a documented quality system, specific to a Scope of Accreditation.

In order for accreditation bodies to recognize each other's accreditations, the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) worked to establish methods of evaluating accreditation bodies against another ISO/CASCO standard (ISO/IEC Guide 58 - which became ISO/IEC 17011). Around the world, regions such as the European Community, the Asia-Pacific, the Americas and others, established regional cooperations to manage the work needed for such mutual recognition. These regional bodies (all working within the ILAC umbrella) include European Accreditation Cooperation (EA), the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC), Southern African Development Community Cooperation in Accreditation (SADCA) and the Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC).

The first laboratory accreditation bodies to be established were National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) in Australia (1947) and TeLaRC in New Zealand (1973).[4][5] Most other bodies are based on the NATA/TELARC model include UKAS in the UK, FINAS in Finland and DANAK in Denmark to name a few.

In the U.S. there are several, multidisciplinary accreditation bodies that serve the laboratory community. These bodies accredit testing and calibration labs, reference material producers, PT providers, product certifiers, inspection bodies, forensic institutions and others to a multitude of standards and programs. These ILAC MRA signatory accreditation bodies carry identical acceptance across the globe. It does not matter which AB is utilized for accreditation. The MRA arrangement was designed with equal weight across all economies. ABs include:

The accreditation of calibration laboratories is the shared responsibility of the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) Program for the Accreditation of Laboratories-Canada (PALCAN), and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Calibration Laboratory Assessment Service (CLAS). The CLAS program provides quality system and technical assessment services and certification of specific measurement capabilities of calibration laboratories in support of the Canadian National Measurement System.

In other countries there is often only one Accreditation Body. Typically these bodies encompass accreditation programs for management systems, product certification, laboratory, inspection, personnel and others:

ISO/IEC 17025:2017 is an international standard specifying requirements for quality and competence in testing and calibration laboratories. The standard requires that such labs prioritise excellent quality practices and develop a reliable quality management system to establish and demonstrate their competence.

The full standard is called ISO/IEC 17025, since the certification was created by the International Organization for Standardization in conjunction with the International Electrotechnical Commission. However, many shorten this to ISO 17025 or simply 17025 certification when referring to the standard.

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