ISO 21043
Definition
The ISO standard for the forensic science process (recognition, recording, collection, examination, interpretation, reporting), complementing ISO/IEC 17025 by addressing the forensic-specific workflow from scene to court.
- Standard
- ISO 21043
- Domain
- Forensic science process, scene to court
- Stages covered
- Recognition, recording, collection, examination, interpretation, reporting
- Complements
- ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory competence standard
Common questions
How does ISO 21043 differ in focus from ISO/IEC 17025?+
17025 addresses whether a laboratory's testing and calibration work is technically competent, while ISO 21043 addresses the broader forensic process from scene recognition through to reporting, so it covers activities like scene management that happen before any sample reaches a lab bench.
Why was a process-specific standard needed alongside the existing lab-competence standard?+
Errors and challenges in forensic cases frequently arise at the scene or handling stages, such as contamination during collection or gaps in the chain of custody, rather than in the analytical testing itself, so a standard covering the full process closes a gap that 17025 alone did not address.
Related terms
- ENFSI DNA WG
- ENFSI DNA Working Group; the European body that publishes the DNA Profiling Best Practice Manual, the Evaluative Reporting Guideline, and coordinates the...
- ISO/IEC 17025:2017
- The international standard specifying general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Covers management (document control, non-conforming work, audits) and...
- NABL
- National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories, a constituent board of the Quality Council of India. It is the sole accrediting...
- Proficiency Testing (PT)
- A quality assurance mechanism in which laboratories analyse blind samples distributed by an external scheme coordinator and have their results compared against...
- SWGDAM
- Scientific Working Group for DNA Analysis Methods; the US body that publishes interpretation guidelines and validation requirements for forensic DNA laboratories operating...