The general requirements for accreditation are laid down in the International Standard General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories (ISO/IEC 17025 1st Ed., 1999), hereafter referred to as ISO 17025. All of these requirements must be met by laboratories seeking accreditation.
This document supplements ISO 17025 by providing specific guidance for both assessors and for laboratories carrying out microbiological testing. It gives detailed guidance on the interpretation of ISO 17025 for those undertaking the examination of materials, products and substances. The guidance is applicable to the performance of all objective measurements, whether routine, non-routine, or as part of research and development. Although it is written primarily for food and environmental microbiological testing, the general principles may be applied to other areas. The guidance given in this document may also be of use to those working towards registration under other quality standards such as GLP, GMP, GCP.
This guide can be downloaded free of charge from the Eurachem web site.