National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) is an accreditation body, with its accreditation system established in accordance with ISO/ IEC 17011. “Conformity Assessment –Requirements for Accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies.” NABL provides voluntary accreditation services to:
- Testing laboratories in accordance with ISO/ IEC 17025 ‘General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories’
- Calibration laboratories in accordance with ISO/ IEC 17025 ‘General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories’
- Medical testing laboratories in accordance with ISO 15189 ‘Medical laboratories -Requirements for quality and competence’
- Proficiency Testing Providers (PTP) in accordance with ISO/IEC 17043 “Conformity assessment — General requirements for proficiency testing” and
- Reference material producers (RMP) in accordance with ISO 17034 “General requirements for the competence of reference material producers”.
NABL is Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA) signatory to ILAC as well as APAC for the accreditation of Testing and Calibration Laboratories (ISO/IEC 17025), Medical Testing Laboratories (ISO 15189), Proficiency Testing Providers (PTP) (ISO/IEC 17043) and Reference materials producers (RMP) ( ISO 17034).
Such MRA reduces technical barrier to trade and facilitates acceptance of test/ calibration results between countries which MRA partners represent.
NABL has been established with the objective of providing Government, Industry Associations and Industry in general with a scheme of Conformity Assessment Body’s accreditation which involves third-party assessment of the technical competence of testing including medical and calibration laboratories, proficiency testing providers and reference material producers. Accreditation process details are provided in NABL 100B “Accreditation Process & Procedure”.
NABL is self-financing and charges fees to Conformity Assessment Bodies to cover operational costs and other expenditure.
NABL offers accreditation services in a non-discriminatory manner. These services are accessible to all testing including medical and calibration laboratories, proficiency testing providers and reference material producers in India and other countries in the region, regardless of the size of the applicant CAB or its membership of any association or group or number of CABs already accredited by NABL. For applicable fees, kindly refer NABL 100A “General Information Brochure”.
The disciplines and groups for which the accreditation services are offered in the respective fields are listed in –
- NABL 120 “Guidance for Classification of Product Groups in Testing & Calibration field”
- NABL 112 “Specific Criteria for Accreditation of Medical Laboratories”
- NABL 180 “Application Form for Proficiency Testing Providers (PTP)”
- NABL 190 “Application Form for Reference Material Producers Accreditation (RMP)”
NABL publishes documents for the CABs, Assessors and its own use. All NABL documents meant for the use by persons outside NABL can be accessed free of cost at NABL website www.nabl-india.org >>publications>> NABL documents.