PROFICIENCY TESTING PROVIDER ACCREDITATION

NABL provide accreditation to Proficiency Testing Provider as per ISO/IEC 17043:2010 “Conformity assessment- General requirements for Proficiency testing” and NABL is signatory to APAC MRA for this program. This International Standard specifies general requirements for the competence of providers of proficiency testing schemes and for the development and operation of proficiency testing schemes. International standard ISO/IEC 13528:2015 is complementary to ISO/IEC 17043 providing detailed guidance on the use of statistical methods in proficiency testing.

Proficiency Testing

Proficiency Testing (PT) is the evaluation of participant performance against pre-established criteria by means of inter laboratory comparisons. For the purposes of ISO/IEC 17043:2010, the term “proficiency testing” is taken in its widest sense and includes, but is not limited to:

a. quantitative scheme — where the objective is to quantify one or more measurands of the PT item;
b. qualitative scheme — where the objective is to identify or describe one or more characteristics of the PT items;
c. sequential scheme — where one or more PT items are distributed sequentially for testing or measurement and returned to the PT provider at intervals;
d. simultaneous scheme — where PT items are distributed for concurrent testing or measurement within a defined time period;
e. single occasion exercise — where PT items are provided on a single occasion;
f. continuous scheme — where PT items are provided at regular intervals;
g. sampling — where samples are taken for subsequent analysis;
h. data transformation and interpretation — where sets of data or other information are furnished and the information is processed to provide an interpretation (or other outcome).

Standard Documents for Proficiency Testing provider Accreditation

• ISO/IEC 17043:2010
• ISO 13528:2015

NABL Documents for Proficiency Testing provider Accreditation

• NABL 180 Application form
• NABL 181 Specific Criteria For PT Provider Accreditation
• NABL 182 Pre Assessment Guidelines & Forms
• NABL 183 Assessment Forms & Checklists

Benefits of Proficiency Testing Provider Accreditation

• For Publishing Standards
• PT results are used for validation
• To ensure competence of Accredited Labs
• For assigning values
• Ensuring Standard is consistent or not
• Quality Assurance
• Increasing confidence of Regulators & Consumers

Fee Structure for PTP Accreditation:

• Refer NABL 100 for Fee Structure