| Introduction |
The competence of accredited laboratories is assessed by two
complementary techniques. One technique is an on-site evaluation by an
assessment team which examines the technical competence of the laboratories and
their compliance with the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements
for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories and ISO/IEC 15189
Accreditation requirements for medical laboratories. The other technique is by
proficiency testing which involves the determination of laboratory testing
performance by means of interlaboratory comparisons. The two techniques each
have their own advantages and when combined give a high degree confidence in
the overall competence of an accredited laboratory.
Proficiency testing in the
form of international interlaboratory comparisons are also used to test the
competence of accreditation bodies when they are seeking mutual recognition
agreements (ILAC, International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation and APLAC,
Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation)with accreditation bodies from other
countries (ILAC P1:ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement-Requirements for
Evaluation of Accreditation Bodies and APLAC MR001:Procedures for Establishing
and Maintaining Mutual Recognition Arrangements amongst Accreditation Bodie).
Taiwan Accreditation Foundation (TAF) conducts APLAC and its own PT programs
constantly in various accreditation fields in accordance and maintains the ILAC
and APLAC MRA as well as TAF-CNLA-R05 Requirements for Proficiency Testing, TAF
also accept programs organized by international organizations and ABs of APLAC
MRA signatories and ILAC MRA signatories.
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