The A2LA Accreditation Program for Reference Material Producers is designed for producers of certified reference materials and reference materials who wish to demonstrate their competence by formal compliance with a set of internationally recognized criteria. The program will also provide users of reference material, such as testing and calibration laboratories, with increased confidence that the reference material being relied upon are being produced in accordance with specified technical and management system requirements and are of appropriate quality.

In December 2007, A2LA expanded its Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation Mutual Recognition Arrangement (APLAC MRA) Scope to include the Reference Material Producer Accreditation Program. This arrangement calls for the signatory Accreditation Bodies to operate to ISO/IEC 17011 and assess reference material producers to ISO Guide 34 in combination with ISO/IEC 17025.

The requirements for this program are listed in the Reference Material Producers Accreditation Requirements - Assessor Checklist and are based on those contained in ISO Guide 34:2000, "General Requirements for the Competence of Reference Material Producers." ISO Guide 34 sets out the general requirements in accordance with which a reference material producer has to demonstrate that it operates, if it is to be recognized as competent to carry out the production of reference material. It is recognized that each reference material needs to be characterized mainly to the level of accuracy required for its intended purpose (i.e. appropriate measurement uncertainty.)

ISO Guide 34 cross references, as normative documents, ISO Guide 30:1992, "Terms and Definitions Used in Connection with Reference Materials", ISO Guide 31:2000, "Reference Materials - Contents of Certificates and Labels", and ISO Guide 35:2006 "Reference Materials - General and Statistical Principles for Certification); thus conformance to these requirements is also mandatory for the accreditation of reference material producers.

Application Documents

The full application package includes the following four documents:

1. The Application form
2. The General Requirements
3. Reference Material Producer Fax confirmation form F306 - Ownership Confirmation: ISO Guide 34.

If you do not have all four of these documents, please contact A2LA Headquarters to obtain them.