Accreditation Body
Definition
A national or regional organisation that assesses laboratories against ISO/IEC 17025 and grants accreditation. Examples include UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service), NIST-associated NVLAP (National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program) in the US, NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) in India, and ILAC-member bodies in the EU.
- Assesses against
- ISO/IEC 17025 (testing and calibration laboratories)
- UK example
- UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service)
- US example
- NVLAP (NIST-associated National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program)
- India example
- NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories)
- International network
- ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation)
Common questions
Why does laboratory accreditation matter to a court?+
Accreditation provides independent evidence that a laboratory's methods, equipment, and staff competence meet a recognised standard, which courts and opposing experts can point to when assessing whether results are reliable enough to admit.
Does accreditation cover every test a laboratory performs?+
No. Accreditation is typically scope-limited to specific methods or test types that were assessed, so a laboratory can be accredited for DNA profiling but not, for example, for a newer technique it has not yet had assessed.
How often must a laboratory be reassessed to keep accreditation?+
Accreditation bodies require periodic surveillance visits and reassessment, commonly on an annual or biennial cycle, plus proficiency testing, so accreditation is a maintained status rather than a one-time award.
Related terms
- ISO 17025
- International standard for the general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Covers management system requirements (document control, internal audits,...
- Blank Control
- A sample known to contain none of the target material, processed in parallel with real exhibits to detect laboratory contamination. A positive...
- ENFSI Guideline for Evaluative Reporting
- A consensus guidance document from the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes that defines how member laboratories should express evaluative opinions. It...
- Forensic Science Regulator (FSR)
- A statutory regulator in England and Wales established by the Forensic Science Regulator Act 2021. The FSR sets a mandatory Code of...
- ILAC G19
- A guidance document from the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation on the use of uncertainty of measurement in forensic science reporting. It requires...
- ISO/IEC 17025
- The international standard for testing and calibration laboratories, published jointly by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission. It...
- Method Validation
- The process of demonstrating that an analytical method does what it claims: that it correctly identifies the target analyte, at what sensitivity,...
- NABL
- National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories, a constituent board of the Quality Council of India. It is the sole accrediting...
- Proficiency Test (PT)
- An external blind trial in which a laboratory receives samples of known (but concealed) identity and is evaluated on whether its results...
- Proficiency Testing
- An external quality assurance programme in which a laboratory analyses blind samples distributed by an independent provider and submits results for comparison...
- Proposition Pair
- The two competing hypotheses that frame an evaluative opinion: typically a prosecution proposition (Hp) and a defence proposition (Hd). A compliant report...
- Reference Collection
- A curated library of verified specimens from known species, subspecies, and geographic populations used as comparators in forensic identification. The depth and...
Explained in these topics
- Accreditation and Quality as a Legal Requirement
- Evaluative Opinion Standards and FrameworksAn independent organisation that assesses whether a laboratory meets the requirements of ISO 17025 and, where relevant, ILAC G19. Examples include UKAS (UK), A...
- Quality Assurance, Reference Collections, and AccreditationAn independent national or international organisation that assesses laboratories against ISO 17025 or equivalent standards and grants formal accreditation. Exa...