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 those 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 organisation for a particular type of activity may be deemed satisfactory in another organisation, simply because the scope is defined differently.

For this assurance to be accepted, measurement results must be comparable with one another—whether obtained at different times, in different locations, or by different personnel—within the limits of measurement uncertainty. In testing or analysis, the goal is to apply the same method so that...