ISO/IEC 17025 Standard is Due for Revision in 2015; NCSL International Will Hold Plenary Session and Full Discussion at Upcoming Conference in Orlando

Boulder, Colorado (PRWEB) July 10, 2014

Many Laboratories worldwide use the ISO/IEC 17025 Standard as the basis for their quality management system. This document, adopted in 1999, has had only minor revisions over the period (2005) and is up for renewal in 2015.

Many believe the Standard should undergo a thorough review and potentially significant revision as soon as possible. The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) has already conducted a ballot on the question, "Do you support ILAC submitting a new work item to ISO/CASCO to revise ISO/IEC 17025 as soon as practical?" With a result of 84% of members supporting the ballot question, ILAC submitted the request. This June, 2014, CASCO opened a 90-day ballot vote of ISO member organizations to determine whether a significant revision should proceed.

The NCSL International organization voted to support the broader revision at their June Board of Directors meeting based on feedback from a detailed survey of its membership. Noted during the discussion was that this important Standard has not kept up with advent of computers and automated equipment now being used for the distribution of quality management systems, nor the significant changes already made to the International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM). Further, some sections of the Standard have been found difficult to interpret and required clarification documents such as ILAC P10 and P14.

"The impact of this Standard and the importance of the revision question are critical to Laboratories worldwide said Lonnie Spires, President of NCSL International. We want our members and the measurement science community to be aware of all updates and to insure them they have an influence on the future of the ISO/IEC 17025 document."

A plenary session on the status of the CASCO ballot on ISO/IEC 17025 and discussion on next process steps will be hosted by Jeff Gust, NCSL International Representative to ILAC, at the upcoming NCSLI Workshop & Symposium, July 28-31 in Orlando, Florida.

NCSL International
2995 Wilderness Place, Suite 107
Boulder, CO 80301
303-440-3339
http://www.ncsli.org

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