National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) is a Constituent Board of

Quality Council of India. NABL has been established with the objective to provide Government, Industry
Associations and Industry in general with a scheme for third-party assessment of the quality and technical
competence of testing and calibration laboratories.

In order to achieve this objective, NABL provides laboratory accreditation services to laboratories that are
performing tests / calibrations in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and ISO 15189:2012 for medical
laboratories. These services are offered in a non-discriminatory manner and are accessible to all testing and
calibration laboratories in India and abroad, regardless of their ownership, legal status, size and degree of
independence.

NABL accreditation system complies with ISO/IEC 17011:2004 and Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation
(APAC) MR001. Based on evaluation of NABL operations by APAC in 2000, NABL has been granted signatory
member status by APAC and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) under their Mutual
Recognition Arrangements (MRAs). Under these MRAs, the reports issued by NABL accredited laboratories
are considered to be equivalent to reports issued by laboratories accredited by (currently) 76 accreditation
bodies in 64 economies. NABL has undergone re-evaluation by four member APAC evaluation team in July
2008. APAC/ILAC has recommended NABL’s Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) status for further four
years with extension of scope for Medical Testing laboratory as per new international standard ISO
15189:2012.

Recently, NABL also added a new dimension in the area of accreditation as a new program on “Accreditation
of PT Providers” based on international standard ISO/IEC 17043-Conformity Assessment- General
Requirements of Proficiency Testing and strive to obtain ILAC / APAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement
(MRA) Signatory Status for international acceptability also.

The users have access to information regarding accredited laboratories through web-based directory of NABL
accredited laboratories.

NABL website is updated continuously with respect to status of accredited laboratories and their scope of
accreditation. The list of laboratories which are either suspended or their scope of accreditation is partially or
fully withdrawn is also available for the benefit of the users. The laboratories will be able to acquire the
necessary NABL documents through the website thereby eliminating postal delays. Suggestions are welcome
from users of the website for further improvement.

 Why Laboratory Accreditation?

Accreditation is the third party attestation related to a conformity assessment body conveying the formal
demonstration of its competence to carry out specific conformity assessment task. Conformity Assessment Body
(CAB) is a body which includes Testing including medical Laboratory, Calibration Laboratory, Proficiency Testing
Provider, Certified Reference Material Producer.

The liberalization of trade and industry policies of the Government of India has created quality consciousness in
domestic trade and provided greater thrust for export. As a consequence testing centres and laboratories have to
demonstrably operate at an internationally acceptable level of competence.
 Laboratory accreditation is a procedure by which an authoritative body gives formal recognition of technical
competence for specific tests/ measurements, based on third party assessment and following international
standards.

Similarly, Proficiency testing Provider accreditation gives formal recognition of competence for organizations that
provide proficiency testing. Reference Material Producers Accreditation gives formal recognition of competence to
carry out the production of reference materials based on third party assessment and following international
standards.

 Benefits of Accreditation

Formal recognition of competence of a laboratory by an Accreditation body in accordance with

international criteria has many advantages:

1. Increased confidence in Testing/ Calibration Reports issued by the laboratory

2. Better control of laboratory operations and feedback to laboratories as to whether they have sound
Quality Assurance System and are technically competent
3. Potential increase in business due to enhanced customer confidence and satisfaction.
4. Customers can search and identify the laboratories accredited by NABL for their specific
requirements from the NABL Web-site or Directory of Accredited Laboratories
5. Users of accredited laboratories enjoy greater access for their products, in both domestic and
international markets.
6. Savings in terms of time and money due to reduction or elimination of the need for re-testing of
products.

Proficiency testing providers play an important role in the value chain for assurance of products and
services. Being an accredited PTP gives the organisation credibility for their PT services. The benefits of
proficiency testing are widely recognized. These include:

1. Comparison of a facility’s performance with that of other participating (peer) facilities

2. Monitoring of a long-term facility performance
3. Improvement in the performance of tests/calibrations following investigation and identification of
the cause(s) of unsatisfactory PT performance, and the introduction of corrective action to prevent re-
occurrence
4. Staff education, training and competence monitorings
5. Evaluation of methods, including the establishment of method precision and accuracy
6. Estimation of measurement uncertainty
7. Contribution to the facility’s overall risk management system
8. Confidence building with interested parties, e.g. customers, accreditation bodies, regulators.

Formal recognition of competence of a RMP by an Accreditation body in accordance with international

criteria has many advantages:

1. Accreditation is an effective marketing tool for RMPs.

2. Accreditation provides assurance that the accredited RMPs are competent to produce the RMs as
listed in the scope of accreditation.
3. It provides confidence to RM users that the reference materials (RMs), and certified reference
materials (CRMs) in particular, are produced according to technically valid and internationally recognized
principles, and fitted for the intended uses.
4. These uses include the assessment of precision and trueness of measurement methods, quality
control, assigning values to materials, calibration, and the establishment of conventional scales. This
eliminates the needs of the users to evaluate the quality of the RMs themselves.
5. RMs are used globally. Many economies around the world have accreditation bodies offering
accreditation to RMPs. These accreditation bodies have adopted ISO Guide 34 as the criteria for RMP
accreditation. This has helped economies to adopt a uniform approach to determining RMP competence. This
uniform approach allows accreditation bodies in different economies to establish arrangements among
themselves, based on mutual evaluation and acceptance of each other’s RMP accreditation systems.