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Glossary of Standards Organizations
| NVLAP |
National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program
A laboratory accrediting agency administered by NIST in the U.S. NVLAP provides an unbiased third party evaluation and recognition of performance, as well as expert technical guidance to upgrade laboratory performance. |
| UKAS |
United Kingdom Accreditation Service
The UK's primary laboratory accrediting agency |
| NATA |
National Association of Testing Authorities
Australia's primary laboratory accrediting agency. |
| A2LA |
American Association for Laboratory Accreditation
A laboratory accrediting agency in the U.S. |
| NACLA |
National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation
NACLA's primary mission is to evaluate U.S. laboratory accreditation bodies (ABs) and to grant recognition to those ABs found to be in compliance with NACLA procedures and the relevant international standards for competent ABs |
| ILAC |
International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation
ILAC is the world's principal international forum for the development of laboratory accreditation practices and procedures, the promotion of laboratory accreditation as a trade facilitation tool, the assistance of developing accreditation systems, and the recognition of competent test facilities. |
| ISO |
International Organization for Standardization
ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 146 countries, on the basis of one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system. ISO is a non-governmental organization. |
| IEC |
International Electro-technical Commission
The leading global organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. |
| ASTM |
American Society for Testing and Materials
One of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world. Maintains many internationally recognized standards related to materials testing. |
| NIST |
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Maintains the United States' national standards. |
| NPL |
National Physical Laboratory
Maintains the U.K.'s national standards |
| ISO/IEC 17025 |
ISO/IEC 17025 is a recently introduced standard from the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission. “ISO17025”, as it has become known, replaces a number of older standards and guides including ISO/IEC Guide 25, EN45001 and ANSI/NCSL-Z540.
It is a global standard for the technical competence of calibration and testing laboratories.
In addition to establishing a quality system, documentation, and personnel requirements, it directs calibration labs to:
- analyze the uncertainty of each measurement
- incorporate the uncertainty into the test procedure and/or test limits
- provide the uncertainties with the calibration certificate and results
Reporting the uncertainty qualifies the accuracy of the measurement and aids understanding when results from different labs are compared. The ratio of specification-to-calibration uncertainty is one way that equipment users gauge their confidence in a product's performance.
ISO17025 is the single most important metrology standard for test and measurement products. Nearly all national standards bodies and accreditation agencies around the world have adopted it. A growing number of companies require it and some industries have even incorporated it into sector-specific standards (for example, the automobile manufacturers' QS9000).*
*The above text is courtesy of Agilent's web site
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