ISO/IEC 17025:2017 structure: what each clause covers
The 2017 edition is organised into general, structural, resource, process and management-system requirements. Knowing the map makes the standard far easier to use.
- Clause 4 — General: impartiality and confidentiality.
- Clause 5 — Structural: legal identity, management, scope of activities, organisation.
- Clause 6 — Resources: personnel, facilities and environment, equipment, metrological traceability, externally provided products and services.
- Clause 7 — Process: review of requests, method selection and validation, sampling, handling of items, technical records, evaluation of measurement uncertainty, ensuring validity of results, reporting, complaints, nonconforming work, control of data and information management.
- Clause 8 — Management system: documentation, control of documents and records, risks and opportunities, improvement, corrective actions, internal audits, management reviews.
Most technical questions from customers — 'is this traceable', 'what is the uncertainty', 'why does the certificate say that' — are answered by clauses 6.5, 7.6 and 7.8 respectively.
Frequently asked questions
- Is ISO/IEC 17025 a certification?
- No. Laboratories are accredited (by an accreditation body) rather than certified; accreditation attests to competence for a defined scope.
- Does the standard apply to calibration and testing equally?
- Yes. It covers both, with some requirements (e.g. CMC in scopes, uncertainty on certificates) applied more stringently to calibration.
References
- [1]ISO/IEC 17025:2017 — General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories
General technical guidance written against the cited sources. It is not regulatory or legal advice and does not replace the applicable standard, guideline or a qualified reviewer's judgement.
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