Laboratory accreditation

Accreditation is formal recognition by an independent body that a laboratory is competent to perform specific tests.

The standard usually referenced for testing laboratories is ISO/IEC 17025. Accreditation is granted for a defined scope — a specific list of methods — rather than for the laboratory as a whole.

Because it is granted by a body that publishes its register, the claim is checkable. The register is the evidence; anything printed on the report itself is only a claim.

What it is not

A logo, a certificate number rendered as an image, or the phrase 'accredited laboratory' in a footer is not accreditation. Nor does accreditation for one method cover every test on the report — check the scope, not just the status.

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