What Laboratories are the 'National Equivalent' of Accredited to ISO/IEC 17025?

[Buford - 2010]

During an audit a question came up about weather our outside lab was accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 or national equivalent per the ISO/TS 16949:2002(E) section 7.6.3.2. The question seems to fall on the "national equivalent" phrase.

Can anyone tell us what would qualify as "national equivalent"?

By the way - I appreciated the help I got from everyone on my last question!
Thanks again

 

[Benjamin28]

Re: What labs are accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 or national equivalent?

https://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=16284

You may find this thread useful. There are other options outside the US which comply with this requirement as well, such as UKAS.

 

[Buford - 2010]

Re: What labs are accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 or national equivalent?

https://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=16284

You may find this thread useful. There are other options outside the US which comply with this requirement as well, such as UKAS.

Both of the these links were informative - however it's the self declared groups that I've a question on.

Can a group of professionals in the field of calibrations get together and create an "Accreditation Council" that would be able to give certificates of accreditation such as A2LA?

I thought maybe there was a list of companies such as A2LA, ILACor SICMMSE that could be used for reference when reviewing the Calibration Laboratories.

 

[Hershal]

Buford,

There are currently five ABs in the U.S. that accredit labs to ISO/IEC 17025 that are also recognized internationally. They are:

IAS, NVLAP, A2LA, L-A-B, and ACLASS.

It is noted that ILAC and A2LA are NOT the same.....A2LA is an accrediting body (one of several that offer accreditation for calibration), ILAC is a Mutual Recognition Arrangement where the previously mentioned five ABs are what is known as signatory, which means they have been audited and accept each other's accreditations as equivalent to their own.

Now, in a strict sence, the National equivalent for the U.S. is ANSI/NCSL Z540.3-2006 (which replaced ANSI/NCSL Z540-1-1994); however that is a self-declared compliance currently; only one AB has announced that they will include a review of compliance to Z540.3 instead of Z540-1.

Hope this helps.