ISO/IEC 17025

The ISO/IEC 17025 standard, first issued in 1999 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), is the single most important standard for calibration and testing laboratories worldwide. Laboratories that have achieved accreditation to the level of this international standard have demonstrated extreme technical competence and the ability to produce precise and accurate test and/or calibration data. Accreditation is a voluntary, third-party-review process by which the quality assurance system of a laboratory is thoroughly evaluated on a regular basis to ensure continued technical competence and compliance with ISO/IEC 17025. Laboratory accreditation can only be granted by agencies like the SAS (CH) or NABL (IN) that have a mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) within the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).