ISO/IEC 17025 revision

The standard ISO / IEC 17025, which is used internationally for accreditation of all kinds of testing and calibration laboratories is being revised. The new standard has been already issued in the form of Committee Draft (CD) and has been put to a vote by the members of the ISO Committee on conformity assessment (CASCO). The main changes in the new version are:

Alignment the structure of ISO / IEC 17025 with the other conformity assessment standards (eg ISO / IEC 17020, ISO / IEC 17024). Specifically, the new standard is expected to have the following sections: General requirements, Structural requirements, Resource requirements, Process requirements, Management requirements.
More emphasis on independence and confidentiality issues. It is now required by laboratories to establish mechanisms for identifying and dealing with situations that endanger the impartiality-independence of the services offered.
In the case of complaints, the final decision on how to handle the complaint, should be taken by a person not involved in the activity test / calibration associated with this complaint.
Laboratories implementing a management system according to ISO 9001, may satisfy simultaneously certain managerial requirements of ISO / IEC 17025.

In the following months, versions of the standard in the form of drafts DIS, FDIS will be issued, while the final version of the standard is expected in the second half of 2016.