UKAS / ILAC Calibration

The United Kingdom Accreditation Service is the sole national accreditation body recognised by government to assess, against internationally agreed standards, organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services.

Accreditation by UKAS demonstrates the competence, impartiality and performance capability of these evaluators.

UKAS is a non-profit-distributing private company, limited by guarantee. UKAS is independent of Government but is appointed as the national accreditation body by the Accreditation Regulations 2009 (SI No 3155/2009) and operates under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government through the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

For Electroservices Enterprises full scope of UKAS calibration capabilities please follow the this link: http://www.ukas.com/

ILAC - the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation - is an international cooperation of laboratory and inspection accreditation bodies formed more than 30 years ago to help remove technical barriers to trade.

Accreditation is the independent evaluation of conformity assessment bodies against recognised standards to carry out specific activities to ensure their impartiality and competence. Through the application of national and international standards, government, procurers and consumers can have confidence in the calibration and test results, inspection reports and certifications provided.

Accreditation bodies are established in many countries with the primary purpose of ensuring that conformity assessment bodies are subject to oversight by an authoritative body.

Accreditation bodies, that have been evaluated by peers as competent, sign arrangements that enhance the acceptance of products and services across national borders, thereby creating a framework to support international trade through the removal of technical barriers.

These arrangements are managed by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), in the field of laboratory and inspection accreditation, and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), in the fields of management systems, products, services, personnel and other similar programmes of conformity assessment. Both organisations, ILAC and IAF work together and coordinate their efforts to enhance the accreditation and the conformity assessment worldwide.

The accreditation bodies of the countries listed below are signatories to the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA):

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay and Vietnam.

ISO 17025 is an international standard for calibration and testing laboratories which was first introduced in 1999. ISO 17025 was produced by ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) and the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and is based on their experience with the implementation of ISO/IEC Guide 25 and EN 45001, both of which it now replaces.

ISO 17025 requires that a calibration or testing laboratory demonstrates that they:

• Operate a management system that covers management, process and documentation
• Generate for their customers technically correct results

The current edition of the standard is ISO/IEC 17025:2005 which was published by ISO on the 12th May 2005. This edition had several clauses amended or added in the light of ISO 9001:2008.

ISO 17025 has replaced documents M10 and M11 for the United Kingdom Accreditation Services (UKAS) and has been adopted as an ANSI standard in the United States of America.

Several Industries/Countries have incorporated ISO 17025 within their industry/Application- specific regulation such as QS-9000 & ISO/TS 16949 for the automotive industry and FCC Part 15 for the United States Government.

ISO 17025 Key points:

• ISO 17025 is the most important metrology standard for calibration services as it is accepted internationally.
  
• ISO 17025 is an International standard for verifying the technical competence of calibration and testing laboratories.
  
• ISO 17025 gives you the customer confidence in the calibration laboratory.