Accreditation
Accredited scope, stated plainly.
A laboratory can legitimately run a test that sits outside its accredited scope. It simply cannot issue that result under the accreditation mark. Zymiq shows you which is which, before you send samples and again on the report.
The test is inside the lab’s ISO/IEC 17025:2017 scope under its certificate — for example NABL TC-8234. The report carries the accreditation mark and a ULR number.
The lab can perform the test but it is not in the accredited scope. Perfectly allowed, and flagged both in the request form and on the issued report, so there are no surprises at audit.
What the standard covers
ISO/IEC 17025:2017, in the parts that affect your report.
The standard is about competence rather than paperwork. An assessment looks at the methods a laboratory runs, the equipment it runs them on, the people who operate it and the records it keeps — and grants a scope that says exactly what it may certify.
A scope is specific, not general
Accreditation is granted test by test. A scope entry names the discipline, the material or product, the method, the standard it is performed to, and usually the range or limit of measurement the laboratory is competent across.
That last column is why a laboratory can be accredited for the test you need and still unable to help: the method may be right and the range wrong. Every scope item published on a Zymiq listing carries what its certificate carries.
Accreditation is not certification
They are different things and the words are used interchangeably by people buying testing for the first time. Certification says an organisation conforms to a management standard. Accreditation says a laboratory is technically competent to perform named tests and produce valid results.
An ISO 9001 certificate on a laboratory’s wall tells you nothing about whether it may issue an accredited result for your material.
Testing and calibration are separate scopes
The same standard covers both, and many laboratories hold scope in each. Testing determines a property of a sample; calibration establishes the relationship between what an instrument reads and what is true. A laboratory accredited for one is not thereby accredited for the other, and the certificates say which.
Measurement uncertainty and traceability
An accredited result is expected to be traceable to national or international measurement standards, with an estimated uncertainty. This is what separates a number from a measured number: it says how much of the value is the material and how much is the method.
Accreditation bodies
One body per country, one standard between them.
A laboratory is accredited by the national body of the country it operates in. They assess against the same ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standard, which is what lets a report issued in one country be relied on in another.
The bodies you will see on a certificate
NABL in India, A2LA and ANAB in the United States, UKAS in the United Kingdom, SCC in Canada, NATA in Australia, EIAC in the United Arab Emirates, SAC in Singapore. Each publishes a register of the laboratories it accredits and the scope each holds, and each register is public.
Registration numbers are how a certificate is found
A certificate carries a registration number in the issuing body’s own format — TC-8234 for a NABL certificate, for instance. It is the handle you use to look a laboratory up on the register, and it is printed on every listing here beside the body that issued it.
Verifying
Check the certificate against the body that issued it.
Every listing here carries the accrediting body’s own link for each certificate. Follow it. The register is the authority on whether an accreditation is current, and a directory that asked you to take its word for that would be worth less than the register it copied.
What to check before you send samples
That the certificate is current, that the test you need is named in the scope, and that the range covers your material. Three checks, all answerable from the register in a couple of minutes, and all three are on the laboratory’s page here as well.
A laboratory whose accreditation has lapsed can still do good work. It cannot issue your result under the accreditation mark while it is lapsed, which is usually the thing being bought.
What to check on the report you receive
That the accreditation mark applies to the specific test and not merely to the page; that the report carries its unique number; and that any test performed outside the accredited scope is marked as such. A compliant report says all three without being asked.
Where these facts come from
Every certificate number, validity date and scope item on this site is read from an accreditation body’s own public register. Nothing here is a laboratory’s description of itself, and each listing links back to the register entry it came from so you can check us against the source.
Questions
Accreditation, in plain terms.
- What is ISO/IEC 17025?
- The international standard for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. A lab accredited to it has been assessed by a national body against its methods, its equipment and its people — not merely registered as a business.
- What is an accredited scope?
- The specific list of tests a laboratory is accredited to perform, method by method and material by material. Accreditation is never general: a lab accredited for tensile testing of steel is not thereby accredited for chemical analysis of water.
- Can a lab run a test outside its accredited scope?
- Yes, and legitimately. It simply cannot issue that result under the accreditation mark. Zymiq shows which tests sit inside the scope and which are offered outside it, before you send samples and again on the report.
- How do I verify a laboratory’s accreditation?
- Every listing links to the accrediting body’s own entry for that certificate. Check it there rather than here — the register is the authority, and we show you the way to it on purpose.
- What is a ULR number?
- A Unique Laboratory Report number, printed on reports issued under NABL-accredited scope. It identifies one report unambiguously, which is what makes it checkable long after it was issued.
- Who accredits testing laboratories?
- A national accreditation body, one per country in most cases — NABL in India, A2LA and ANAB in the United States, UKAS in the United Kingdom, SCC in Canada, NATA in Australia. Each assesses against the same ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standard, which is what makes an accredited report mean something across a border.
- How long is an accreditation certificate valid?
- Typically a fixed term of a few years, with surveillance assessments in between, after which the laboratory is reassessed. The validity date is on the certificate and on every listing here — a lapsed accreditation is the single fact most likely to disqualify a laboratory from a job, and it is the one people check last.
- Is calibration the same as testing?
- No, though the same standard covers both and many laboratories hold scope in each. Testing determines a property of a sample; calibration establishes the relationship between what an instrument reads and what is true. A laboratory accredited for one is not thereby accredited for the other.
- What does a scope of accreditation actually list?
- Per certificate: the discipline, the material or product, the specific test or method, the standard it is performed to, and usually the range or limit of measurement. That last column is why a laboratory can be accredited for a test and still unable to help you — the method may be right and the range wrong.
- What is proficiency testing?
- Rounds in which laboratories analyse the same material blind and their results are compared. Accreditation bodies require participation as evidence that a method works in practice and not only on paper. It is one of the things assessed when a scope is granted or renewed.
- Does an accreditation mark on a report cover every test on it?
- Not necessarily. A single report can carry both accredited and non-accredited results, and a compliant report says which are which. Check the marking against the individual test rather than assuming the mark at the top covers the page.
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