Bulletin 2017-10
Action required
None for now but consideration should be given to preparing a transition plan to the revised standard which will be required of all ISO/IEC 17025 customers of SCC and those of its partners, Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ) and National Research Council Calibration Laboratory Assessment Services (CLAS).
Affected customers
The upcoming change will affect all applicants and accredited testing, and calibration laboratories, as well as, those labs accredited by other Accreditation Bodies signatories to the ILAC MRA and that are being used by SCC accredited certification bodies for products, processes and services.
Background
In the fall of 2014, ISO/CASCO initiated the revision of ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. At the beginning of its work, Working Group 46 of ISO/CASCO set out a 3 year timeline for completion of its work. Although the date of publication is not known yet, it is expected that the publication will happen no later than December 2017.
In terms of transition, the ILAC General Assembly approved, at its meeting of New Delhi last fall, a 3 year transition period that will apply from the date of publication of the revised standard.
SCC, in collaboration with its partners CLAS and BNQ, is working with the Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation (CALA) to establish a common transition approach and timeline to the revised standard.
Once the new standard is published, joint communications will be made around information available from ISO/CASCO, key changes, available training, Frequently Asked Questions list, etc.
New requirements
Once the new standard is published, SCC and its partners BNQ and CLAS, will have until 3 years after the date of publication to ensure that all its accredited testing and calibration laboratories have completed their transition to the revised version.
Deadline
To be established once the revised standard is published.
Questions?
Please contact Cynthia Milito, Director – Accreditation Services, at cynthia.milito@scc-ccn.ca or +1 613 238 3222 for more information.