External Recognition
Use of reference materials

The primary objective of the assessment is to gather factual evidence and provide assurance regarding the validity of measurement results produced by laboratories or inspection bodies, when these results have a significant impact on the outcome of the inspection.

It is important to remember that accreditation represents an acceptable technical balance between the accredited scope and the resources deployed. Resources assessed as unsatisfactory in one organization for a particular type of activity may be deemed satisfactory in another organization, simply because the scope is defined differently.

For this assurance to be accepted, measurement results must be comparable with one another—at different times, in different locations, and performed by different personnel—within the limits of measurement uncertainty. In testing or analysis, the...