Conformity assessment: providing confidence in testing and calibration
| Journal | Accreditation and Quality Assurance: Journal for Quality, Comparability and Reliability in Chemical Measurement |
| Publisher | Springer Berlin / Heidelberg |
| ISSN | 0949-1775 (Print) 1432-0517 (Online) |
| Issue | Volume 13, Number 9 / September, 2008 |
| Category | International Bodies |
| DOI | 10.1007/s00769-008-0418-2 |
| Pages | 543-546 |
| Subject Collection | Chemistry and Materials Science |
| SpringerLink Date | Sunday, June 08, 2008 |
A. Squirrell
Conformity assessment documents developed by the ISO
Committee on conformity assessment (CASCO) are used
worldwide to check whether products, services, materials,
processes, systems and personnel measure up to the
requirements of standards, regulations, or other specifications.
Assessments based on these documents give
confidence, facilitate access to world markets, and provide
domestic and international socio-economic benefits, particularly
in relation to the ever increasing need to monitor
our global environment and address public health and
safety issues.
The CASCO toolbox—containing a total of 26 documents—
made up of the ISO/IEC 17000 series of standards
(19 in all with five underway) and seven guides—makes an
important contribution to all three dimensions of sustainable
development economic growth, environmental
integrity of the planet, and societal equity. They provide
globally harmonized tools for ensuring the correct application
of ISO International Standards on these subjects.
One important group of conformity assessment bodies
are laboratories—both testing and calibration. It is essential
that the outputs (i.e. measurement results) from these are fit
for their intended use, given that often very important
decisions are based on these.
This paper will focus on two documents in the CASCO
toolbox which relate directly to laboratories and confidence
in their measurement results.
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