ISO 17025

ISO 17025 Accreditation means that the laboratory carrying out your DNA testing has undergone rigorous measures to ensure that it gets the accreditation. ISO is the International Organization for Standardization and is the largest and most well know certification and standard-setting body world-wide. There are many accrediting bodies around the world but the most important accreditation for laboratories doing DNA testing is ISO 17025. ISO standards for International Standard Organization- any accrediting body sets standards and to awarded and boast the accreditation the laboratory must ensure it abides to the standards set by the accrediting body. The laboratory will be periodically inspected; an accreditation can be taken away if the laboratory is found to falter on one of the criteria set by the accrediting body.

There are so many different types of accreditations that you must ensure not to be misled by the word accreditations. Different accreditations are designated for different types of business or entities. Laboratories carrrying out DNA testing will not have the same accreditations as offices or other businesses.

ISO 17025 clearly outlines what it sets to do in terms of quality assurancy and DNA testing competency: General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories” (2005). Remember that accreditations are always independent entities; a laboratory or company cannot accredited itself using its own internal accreditation system. This is not objective and not valid.