National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) is an autonomous body under the aegis of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and is registered under the Societies Act. NABL has been established with the objective to provide Government, Industry Associations and Industry in general with a scheme for third-party assessment of the quality and technical competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Government of India has authorised NABL as the sole accreditation body for Testing and Calibration laboratories.
NABL accreditation is a formal recognition of the technical competence of a testing or calibration laboratory for a specific task following ISO/IEC 17025 Standard. This is based on third party assessment. WTO recognizes non-acceptance of test results and measurement data as Technical Barrier to Trade (TBT). Accreditation is considered to be the first essential step towards removing such technical barriers. NABL has gone a step further and achieved the status of APLAC (Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) MRA (Mutual Recognition Arrangement) partner and signatory to ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) Arrangement based on peer evaluation by a multi-disciplinary team from APLAC. This is a major step towards mutual acceptance of test results and measurement data amongst 52 accreditation bodies representing 45 countries. NABL accredited laboratories have therefore emerged as a member of global family of accredited laboratories.
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