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Learning path · 10 articles · about 20 min

ISO/IEC 17025 for calibration users

The clauses of ISO/IEC 17025 that shape what an accredited laboratory can and must give you — traceability, uncertainty, reporting and scope.

For: Customers of accredited laboratories and staff preparing an in-house laboratory for accreditation.

  1. 01ISO/IEC 17025ISO/IEC 17025 calibration explainedWhat accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 does and does not tell you about a calibration.2 min
  2. 02ISO/IEC 17025ISO/IEC 17025:2017 structure: what each clause coversThe 2017 edition is organised into general, structural, resource, process and management-system requirements. Knowing the map makes the standard far easier to use.2 min
  3. 03MetrologyMetrological traceability explainedTraceability means a result can be related to the SI through an unbroken, documented chain of calibrations, each with a stated uncertainty. Here is what that requires in practice.2 min
  4. 04ISO/IEC 17025Metrological traceability in ISO/IEC 17025 (clause 6.5)Results must be traceable to the SI through calibration by a competent laboratory, certified values of certified reference materials, or direct realisation of SI units.2 min
  5. 05Laboratory DiscoveryAccreditation bodies and the ILAC MRANational accreditation bodies assess laboratories to ISO/IEC 17025; the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement makes their accredited certificates equivalent across borders.2 min
  6. 06Laboratory DiscoveryHow to read a scope of accreditationA scope lists, per quantity, the range, the calibration and measurement capability (CMC) and the method. Reading it tells you whether the laboratory can certify what you need — and at what uncertainty.2 min
  7. 07ISO/IEC 17025Equipment requirements in ISO/IEC 17025 (clause 6.4)Equipment must be fit for purpose, calibrated where it affects results, checked, protected from adjustment, and fully recorded — including software.2 min
  8. 08ISO/IEC 17025Evaluation of measurement uncertainty (clause 7.6)Laboratories must identify contributions to uncertainty and, for calibration, evaluate the uncertainty of every result — including calibration of their own equipment.2 min
  9. 09ISO/IEC 17025Reporting results and statements of conformity (clause 7.8)A certificate must carry defined identification, method, traceability and uncertainty information — and any pass/fail statement must name the decision rule.2 min
  10. 10ISO/IEC 17025Nonconforming work under ISO/IEC 17025 (clause 7.10)When work does not conform — an out-of-tolerance reference, a failed data-quality check, a wrong method — the response must be controlled, evaluated for impact, and recorded.2 min

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