Current trends in Testing And Calibration

There have been a number of developments over recent years that have affected laboratories. Some of these have provided additional challenges for developing countries, but there have also been some advances in the guidance and assistance available to laboratories.

Some of the key areas and trends include:

• Increased complexity in the standards that laboratories are expected to meet (including ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO 15189);
• Increased demand for laboratories to demonstrate traceability of their tests and measurements to international standards;
• Increased demand(from accreditation bodies and others) that laboratories will have determined the measurement uncertainty of the tests and calibrations they perform. (Previously this had largely only affected calibration laboratories);
• Increased expectations that laboratories will participate in proficiency testing activities, while in many areas there is limited opportunity for them to do so;
• Increased sophistication in the documents affecting the production of reference materials and certified reference materials.

Developing countries often encounter significant challenges in meeting the expectations of foreign importers or regulators when there are gaps or deficiencies in their conformity assessment resources. These gaps may arise for a variety of reasons, including a lack of supporting services from other bodies in their economies. Even developed countries may lack some of the specialized services needed to satisfy the specific conformity assessment needs of foreign markets. Often, it may not be cost-effective to establish such specialized services if, for example, there is infrequent use for it within the domestic economy, or the service can be readily accessed from abroad..

As with all economies, developing countries have needs for testing, measurement, and calibration. To satisfy some markets, they may also need access to accreditation services for their laboratories.

Their testing laboratories will also often need complementary services such as:

• Access to specialist calibration services (able to demonstrate traceability to international standards) to support their own testing and measurement;
• Access to reference materials (RMs) and certified reference materials (CRMs);
• Access to proficiency testing services;
• Access to equipment repair and maintenance expertise;
• Access to research and development expertise to meet new demands for testing; and
• Training of technical, management and support staff.

Resources available to assist laboratories

There are a number of resources available internationally which might assist laboratories in developing countries meet these challenges.

First, in some countries UNIDO itself has provided direct technical assistance to develop the capacitiesof testing and calibration laboratories and has facilitated their access to supporting services.

Various training programs and interactive courses are available through the internet on the requirements of standards such as ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO 15189. A useful starting point here is to examine the websites of various national accreditation bodies. Many have guidance documents and/or training programs relevant to these standards. Their websites are listed on ILAC's own website www.ilac.org).

In terms of assistance in achieving measurement traceability, a key issue is access to national measurement institutes (NMIs). There have been major developments over recent years at the international level to assist in the identification of suitable sources of measurement traceability at specific NMIs (including many of those in developing countries).

The international framework for providing compatibility of measurements is coordinated at the national level by such national measurement institutes. It is their responsibility to provide the best measurement capabilities needed within their economies (to the extent possible) and to maintain their own measurement capabilities at levels which provide comparability with institutes in other economies. However, in many economies (in both developed and developing countries) access to appropriate high-level measurements for some quantities needs to be through NMIs in other economies.

International coordination of measurement science and capabilities is provided through the International Bureau of Weights and Measurements (BIPM). BIPM and its member NMIs interact with testing and calibration laboratories in a number of key activities.

These include:

• BIPM's member NMIs make available appropriate ranges of measurement standards with uncertainties commensurate with the technical needs of their countries' laboratories, industry users and other clients of their calibration services (including foreign users);
• They maintain traceability of national measurement standards to international standards and the SI units through a credible and transparent process of international inter-comparisons;
• They implement the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement between NMIs. This MRA uses ISO/IEC 17025 as a fundamental criterion for NMIs participating in the MRA;
• BIPM maintains a publicly available database of the calibration and measurement capabilities (CMCs) of each of the NMIs in the CIPM MRA. This information is based on key intercomparisons regularly conducted between the NMIs;
• BIPM members provide technical expertise for use in accreditation assessments and often provide reference values and measurement artifacts for measurement and calibration proficiency tests.

Information on the roles and activities of BIPM is available at

www.bipm.org.

Information from the key comparisons data base is accessed through

www.kcdb.bipm.org.

Guidance for laboratories is also becoming increasingly available in the determination of the measurement uncertainty of their tests and calibrations. Once again, many accreditation bodies have developed specific guidance documents on this topic which can usually be accessed through their websites. (See again their specific website addresses through the ILAC website.) Additionally, the ILAC website provides references and links to a number of other bodies' guidance documents on topics such as measurement uncertainty, traceability and proficiency testing. (See

http://www.ilac.org/non_ilac_documents.html). .

For access to proficiency testing programs, there are now a number of sources of information available. These include the comprehensive EPTIS database of proficiency testing programs operated in Europe, the Americas and Australia, most of which are available for laboratories in foreign countries. (Access through www.eptis.bam.de).

Additionally, a number of accreditation bodies provide lists of proficiency testing providers. (See, for example, the "Proficiency Testing Directory" published by NATA and accessible through http://www.nata.asn.au/go/publications/proficiency-testing ).

ILAC has also established a special committee dedicated to proficiency testing (PT) matters, including PT access issues for developing countries. This is the ILAC Proficiency Testing Consultative Group (PTCG) and it is regularly attended by UNIDO as one of the interested stakeholders in its work.

There are a number of key organizations for issues relevant to reference materials (RMs) and certified reference materials (CRMs), and a special policy committee of ISO (REMCO dedicated to the preparation of international guides relevant to RMs and CRMs).

There is also an international database (COMAR) of more than 11,000 reference materials from about 200 producers in 27 countries, available through www.comar.bam.de.

ILAC has also prepared a number of guidance and information documents relevant to RMs and CRMs, available through its website."