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ISO/IEC 17025:2005 International Standard:
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ISO has published in excess of
18,000
industrial and commercial standards worldwide that cover all facets of the work
place.
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Areas covered include agriculture, construction, mechanical engineering, manufacturing and
distribution, transportation, medical devices, and information and communication
technology.
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ISO is not a governmental entity but rather
an international standard setting body whose standards often become law in
member countries.
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Its role is to try to identify and develop
those
International Standards
that are going to be required by businesses, customers, governments, trade
officials, developing countries, and consumers:
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For businesses:
suppliers can base the development of their products and services on
specifications that have wide acceptance in their sectors.
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For customers:
when products and services are based on International Standards, it provides an
increasingly wide selection of choices.
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For governments: provide the technological and scientific
foundation for health,
safety, and environmental legislation.
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For trade officials:
creates "a level playing field" for all competitors in those markets and
is the
technical means by which political trade agreements can be put into practice.
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For developing countries:
represents an important source of technological know-how, providing a basis for
making the right decisions when investing resources.
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For consumers: conformity of products and services provides
assurances about their quality, safety, and reliability.
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For everyone:
contributes to the quality of life in general by
ensuring that the transport, machinery, and tools we use are safe.
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International Standards developed by ISO are
not automatically binding on either a governmental body or an industrial entity.
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Has to be certain allowances and flexibility
when certain standards may interfere or conflict with cultural and social
requirements in certain countries.
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Not all standards developed and adopted by ISO
were attained by unanimous vote.
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Many of the experts involved in standard development do
not always agree to every proposal.
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Individual nations and their standardization body
determine if a standard is going to be adopted.
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ISO/IEC 17025:2005 contains all of
the general requirements for determining the competence of Testing and
Calibration laboratories.
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Digital Forensics laboratories fall under the
"Testing" requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2005.
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