It is the innermost desire of every businessman that he should be able to export maximum and that whatever he exports be readily acceptable to clients in the world market without any hassle. This is possible only if he exports quality products which have been tested by an accredited laboratory in his country.

But the question remains as to how can we be sure that the results provided by a certain lab are really authentic? It is this requirement of authenticity which forces us to approach such a lab that is accredited according to the requirements of an international standard.

For exporters, it is a big headache whether the product their clients are exporting comes up to the requirements of the international standard. Exporters might have also obtained valid certificate for the same, yet the importer would not necessarily have confidence that the laboratories’ certificates obtained will be accepted. For his own satisfaction, he may require the product to be tested again. This creates difficulty, delay, and leads to wasteful extra costs.

The overseas importer on his part would be safe from all troubles at his end if he trusts the test certificates issued in the exporter’s country. The only sensible way left for both the parties if they use the services of accredited laboratories.

An accredited laboratory is the one which provides confidence to its clients in the results of testing and measurement carried out for them and one can have such a confidence if we have trust in the lab that undertakes the testing or measurement, in the equipment which is being used, and in the results obtained. We usually depend on competent bodies such as National Accreditation Council (NAC) which assesses the activities of a laboratory against the requirements of the international standard labs, e.g. ISO 17025.

An NAC in any country ensures whether the laboratory is competent to undertake the tests; the equipment used were fit for the purpose; the testing methods were appropriate; the staff fulfilled the required standard of competence; appropriate records are kept; and much, much more,

ISO 17025 is an international standard that spells out general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories, which are 24 in number—14 pertain to management, and 24 pertain to technical side. The management requirements include:

Organization; quality system; document control; review of requests, tenders and contracts; subcontracting of tests and calibrations; purchasing of services and supplies; complaints; control of non-conforming testing; corrective action; preventive action; control of records; internal audits; management reviews.

Technical requirements include: general; personnel; accommodation and environmental conditions; methods and validation; equipment; measurement traceability; sampling;. handling of calibration items; assuring the quality of test; the results.

Implementation: The implementation of these requirements in a lab depends upon the seriousness of the management. The whole process takes a period of six to eight months to prepare the lab for accreditation. All the 24 requirements are addressed during this period and the following steps are involved:

* gap analysis; preparation of quality system documentation (QSD); training of internal auditors; preventive actions; management reviews, pre-assessment and lastly the final assessment.

Comparison: For those who have got their laboratories certified to ISO 9000 and now do not know whether they should go for ISO 17025 as well, it would be suffice to say that the laboratories that are ISO 9000 certified meet only the management requirements and not the technical ones. Technical requirements are fulfilled only when the labs are accredited to ISO 17025.