Publication of ISO/IEC 17025:2005 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories - update December 2005

ISO/IEC 17025 has been revised and the 2005 version was published by ISO on 12 May 2005.   A statement issued by the ISO/CASCO working group outlining the changes is available on this website and laboratories are advised to read this document. You will see from the ISO statement that the purpose of the revision was to align the previous version with ISO 9001:2000. The management system requirements of the two standards are now compatible, with ISO/IEC 17025 taking account of the specific relevance of these to laboratories.

Overall the changes are minimal and the main changes on the management system side are the greater emphasis on the responsibilities of top management and explicit requirements for continual improvement of the management system and communication with the customer. The continual improvement aspect also affects two clauses in the technical requirements. Clause 5.2.2 has been supplemented to include “ the effectiveness of the training actions taken shall be evaluated ” and a new requirement has been added at clause 5.9.2: “ Quality control data shall be analysed and, where they are found to be outside predetermined criteria, planned action shall be taken to correct the problem and to prevent incorrect results from being reported .” Some of the terminology used in the standard has changed, the term ‘clients’ has been replaced by ‘customers’ and the ‘Quality Management System’ is now referred to as the ‘Management System’.   The revised standard also makes it clear that meeting the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 does not automatically mean that the requirements of ISO 9001 are met.   The standard does however recognise that by being accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, a laboratory will meet the principles of ISO 9001.

ILAC are allowing a two year transition period for laboratories to meet the requirements of the new standard. UKAS has set out the timescale to complete assessment to the new standard within the transition period (See Time limit for assessment to the new ISO/IEC 17025 ). New accreditation certificates will be issued after any nonconformities/improvement actions have been completed. The new wording to be used on accreditation certificates, and for use by accredited laboratories, is given together with conditions for use, in TPS53 .

UKAS has negotiated a discounted rate for the new standard on behalf of our customers.   Copies can be obtained from BSI at a cost of £53.   Please quote your UKAS accreditation (or application) number when placing your order. Contact details for BSI Sales are as follows:

Tel: 0208 996 7511
Fax: 0208 996 7512
Email: distributor.sales@bsi-global.com

If you have any difficulties with purchasing your copy of ISO 17025 please contact Ruth Turnbull at UKAS, on 020 8917 8421 or email Ruth at ruth.turnbull@ukas.com

Any queries concerning the revision should be referred to your Assessment Manager.