Metrology and accreditation
Metrology is the basic foundation for validation procedure, itself a prerequisite for the laboratory to apply for accreditation.
Accreditation is a recognition of the laboratory’s competence to perform certain analyses. In France, it is issued by the COFRAC (French Accreditation Committee). It is usually granted to a laboratory for an analyte-matrix-method combination. Therefore, a laboratory can have several accreditations.
It is essential to ensure traceability (of measurement results, methods, instrument tracking, etc.). A quality assurance system is also required.
An analytical result provided by an accredited laboratory is not a guarantee of a reliable result – you also have to make sure that the laboratory’s field of accreditation includes the analysis performed (the laboratory can perform analyses outside its field of accreditation).