The ISO 17025 standard establishes the management and technical requirements for the accreditation of testing and calibration laboratories.
While the ISO 9001 Certification refers to the Quality Management System implemented by the Organization / Laboratory, the Accreditation covers both the Management System and each individual test or calibration for which the Laboratory intends to be or is “accredited”.
Accreditation is obtained by implementing both the requirements of the ISO 17025 standard and the technical regulations applicable to the tests / calibrations in question. Such technical regulations are envisaged by the Accreditation Body (for Italy, ACCREDIA documents applicable to the test and calibration laboratories)..
To access the accreditation services, the Organization requesting it must complete an application consisting of a general section (containing the general information on the Organization) and a specific part for the requested scheme. After acceptance of the application, the Laboratory must send the technical and management documentation to the Accreditation Body and only after a positive evaluation of such documentation the inspection visit to the Laboratory can be planned. This includes any branch offices, or visit to the field where applicable.
If the visit is successful, a Certificate of Accreditation is issued to the Testing / Calibration Laboratory, accompanied by the cards listing the accredited tests / calibrations.
Similarly to the Management Systems, also the Accreditation of the tests / calibrations is subject to periodic surveillance visits and renewal of the Accreditation itself by the Accreditation Body.
The Accreditation of testing and calibration laboratories can be a mandatory requirement at national or international level based on laws / regulations or specific requests of reference markets. For example, the Automotive sector requires that testing and calibration laboratories outside the Organization subject to IATF 16949 certification are accredited according to ISO 17025 or to an equivalent national standard
NeM has the knowledge, experience and methodology necessary to support the Laboratory especially for the management part and also has specific technical skills related to: electrical/electronic measurements, physical quantities and software tests.
The method proposed by NeM for the achievement of the ISO 17025 certification is described in the section “THE PATH TO CERTIFICATION”