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Accreditation

The JRC develops certified reference materials (CRMs) whose certified values are used by laboratories worldwide to establish traceability of their measurement results.

 Reference material producers, in general, do not need to be National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) and the vast majority of certified reference materials is produced by other organisations than NMIs. In general the validity of the certified value is ensured via third party assessment. Likewise ISO/IEC 17025:2017 asks laboratories to use only reference materials and certified reference materials produced by competent reference material producers and states that producers meeting the requirement of ISO 17034 are considered to be competent. 

The correctness and reliability of the certified values is therefore a key question. Within the JRC, the Reference Material Unit (F.6) is responsible for the development and certification of non-nuclear reference materials and Unit (G.2) Standards for Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards, is likewise responsible for the development and certification of nuclear and radioactive reference materials.  Accreditation to ISO 17034 ensures that the JRC acts as a scientifically and technically competent reference material producer and that the produced reference materials are of appropriate quality. This includes the metrological traceability of certified values.

The JRC has established a modern quality management system. Since 2004, the Reference Materials Unit is accredited according to ISO Guide 34 and ISO/IEC 17025. The switch from ISO Guide 34 to ISO 17034 was completed in April 2019. Since July 2021, Unit G.2 is accredited for production of certified nuclear reference materials according to ISO 17034 and ISO/IEC 17025.  The corresponding accreditation scopes are systematically updated based on the work programme and strategic considerations.






How can I see if a CRM was produced under our scope of accreditation?

CRMs that were produced under our scope of accreditation have the BELAC-logo in the bottom-left corner with reference to our accreditation number (268-RM) next to it. There are some issues to be considered:

•  All of our CRMs are produced following the procedures valid at the time of production, regardless whether they are under the scope of accreditation or not. 

•  We do not “back-assign” accreditation: CRMs that were produced before a certain measurands/matrix combination was included in our scope of accreditation do not get the BELAC logo. This is even true if the measurands/matrix combination is later included in our scope of accreditation. 

•  We do not request an extension of scope for all new fields. If we know that a certain type of CRM will not be repeated soon, the effort for maintaining the scope for this field may not be worthwhile.

This is the reason why not all of our CRMs are covered by our scope of accreditation.



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