ISO/IEC 17025
Definition
The international standard for testing and calibration laboratories, published jointly by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission. It specifies requirements for competence, impartiality, and consistent operation. The current edition is from 2017. Most national accreditation bodies grant laboratory accreditation against this standard.
- Current edition
- 2017 edition
- Scope
- Testing and calibration laboratories
- Accreditation requirement
- Assessed by a national accreditation body through document review and on-site technical assessments
Common questions
What is ISO/IEC 17025 and why does it matter for forensic labs?+
ISO/IEC 17025 is an international standard that sets requirements for the competence and impartiality of testing and calibration laboratories. Accreditation to this standard is the principal credential that makes a forensic lab's results legally acceptable in most jurisdictions.
What does ISO/IEC 17025 actually require labs to do?+
The standard covers two main areas. Management requirements include impartiality, document control, and handling complaints. Technical requirements include method validation, measurement uncertainty assessment, equipment calibration, and internal audits.
Who decides if a lab meets ISO/IEC 17025?+
A national accreditation body assesses compliance through document review and on-site technical assessments. Examples include NABL in India, UKAS in the UK, and A2LA/ANAB in the United States.
Related terms
- Daubert Standard
- The US federal evidentiary standard (Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 1993) requiring that expert testimony be based on scientifically valid methods with...
- Frye Standard
- The US legal test for admissibility of scientific evidence, originating from Frye v. United States (1923), which required that a technique be...
- OSAC
- Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science: established by NIST and DOJ in 2014, it develops consensus forensic standards through structured...
- Proficiency Testing
- An external quality assurance programme in which a laboratory analyses blind samples distributed by an independent provider and submits results for comparison...
- Accreditation
- Formal recognition by a standards body (such as UKAS in the UK, A2LA in the US, or NABL in India) that a...
- Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA)
- India's current evidence statute, which replaced the Indian Evidence Act 1872. Section 63 of the BSA governs electronic records and requires a...
- Forensic Science Regulator Act 2021
- UK legislation that gave the Forensic Science Regulator statutory power to require compliance with quality standards, investigate non-compliant providers, and publish compliance...
- Likelihood Ratio (LR)
- The ratio of two conditional probabilities: the probability of the observed evidence given the prosecution's hypothesis (same source), divided by the probability...
- NIST CFTT
- The National Institute of Standards and Technology Computer Forensics Tool Testing programme. It publishes independent test reports for digital forensic tools, including...
- SWGDE
- Scientific Working Group for Digital Evidence. A US multi-agency body that publishes consensus best-practice documents for digital forensic disciplines, including image authentication,...
- A2LA / UKAS / ANAB
- National accreditation bodies: A2LA (American Association for Laboratory Accreditation) and ANAB in the US; UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) in the UK....
- Accreditation Body
- A national or regional organisation that assesses laboratories against ISO/IEC 17025 and grants accreditation. Examples include UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service), NIST-associated...
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