ISO/IEC 17025 latest edition has been published

The international organization of standardization has just published the latest update of the most popular standard for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories, namely the ISO/IEC 17025. Based on the latest changes of laboratory environment and work practices, the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 will replace ISO/IEC 17025:2005, and will cover technical and vocabulary changes, IT developments and will take into consideration the latest version of ISO 9001 on quality management.

Laboratories already certified with ISO/IEC 17025:2005 will have to transition to the new version of the standard within a three-year period from the publication date of the standard.

The standard’s main changes:

• The Scope has been revised to cover testing, calibration and sampling associated with subsequent calibration and testing
• The process approach now matches that of newer standards such as ISO 9001 (quality management), ISO 15189 (quality of medical laboratories) and ISO/IEC 17021-1 (requirements for audit and certification bodies)
• The standard has now a stronger focus on information technologies and incorporates the use of computer systems, electronic records and the production of electronic results and reports
• A new chapter introduces the concept of risk-based thinking

Click here to find out more about this standard.

Source: ISO