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Since
accreditation involves a third party
assessment of a laboratory's QA
program and technical capabilities,
it provides an impartial viewpoint
of the competency of the laboratory.
It also provides an unbiased assessment
of the laboratory's standards, procedures,
personnel qualifications, and traceability
to an appropriate national laboratory.
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In short, accreditation
offers a lab's customers a high level
of confidence in its quality and technical
abilities.
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Because
ISO 9000 includes calibration requirements,
many companies include accreditation
for calibration suppliers as a mandatory
part of their QA system. Often,
accredited suppliers need only remit
a copy of their accreditation scope
in order to become an approved vendor.
This eliminates the need for time-consuming,
expensive audits and other supplier
evaluation methods
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Accreditation
has benefits for international customers
as well. All recognized accreditation
bodies have adopted ISO
/ IEC 17025:2005 as the basis
for accreditation of calibration
and testing laboratories. Because
these accreditations are based on
the same standards, countries may
enter into Mutual
Recognition Arrangement (MRA)
whereby an accreditation body in
one country recognizes the accreditations
done by a fellow MRA signatory in
another country. |
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