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 that have a mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) within the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).

The SAS, a subsidiary of the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO), is responsible for decisions concerning accreditation of calibration laboratories in Switzerland in accordance with the applicable national and international requirements. Such accreditation serves to create a transparent and qualified infrastructure for conformity assessment bodies in all branches and, in this case, is a formal acknowledgement of the competence of the SPEAG Calibration Laboratory to execute conformity assessments according to specified requirements. The SAS, as the Swiss arm of a broad international accreditation architecture, represents Swiss national interests in the international arena and oversees compliance with international standards in the individual specific fields within Switzerland.