Calibration Laboratory Assessment Service (CLAS)
CLAS Implementation Policy for Transition to CAN-P-4E (ISO/IEC 17025:2005)
In Canada, the accreditation of calibration laboratories is the shared responsibility of the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) Program for the Accreditation of Laboratories-Canada (PALCAN), and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Calibration Laboratory Assessment Service (CLAS). The CLAS program provides quality system and technical assessment services and certification of specific measurement capabilities of calibration laboratories in support of the Canadian National Measurement System.
Eligibility for CLAS certification is required for SCC accreditation of calibration laboratories. The SCC grants accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 for qualified laboratories. The PALCAN/CLAS Agreement of Collaboration contains a detailed description of shared responsibilities in the accreditation of calibration laboratories.
The implementation of CLAS at INMS was an important step in the establishment of the Canadian Calibration Network, a network of calibration laboratories that ensures clients across Canada easier access to calibration services with certified traceability to national and international measurement standards. Calibration laboratories certified by CLAS offer measurements traceable to the International System of Units (SI). This traceablility provides the basis for fair trade, increased global market acceptance of test reports and products, enhanced product quality, and demonstration of conformance to such international quality standards as ISO 9000.
International arrangements are in place to help ensure that calibration laboratories that are certified by CLAS and accredited by the SCC are recognized by over 36 accreditation systems worldwide.
In its role as Canada's national standards laboratory, INMS maintains close ties with the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) and a number of other international organizations such as the North American Metrology Collaboration (NORAMET), the North American Calibration Cooperation (NACC), and the European cooperation for Accreditation (EA), as well as the national laboratories of other industrialized countries. These international interactions ensure that Canada's laboratory accreditation system is compatible with the accreditation systems of Canada's major trading partners.
"Clients choose CLAS assessed laboratories because they are interested in pushing precision calibration to its highest level and want to be associated with like-minded businesses. These two things seem to go together - an interest in quality and an interest in business excellence.
CLAS assessment is an exercise demanding of time, resources, and energy. If a laboratory is merely interested in the paper certificate, it is possible to go elsewhere for assessment - to take the path of lesser resistance - where the criteria is less robust, less severe. Calibration laboratory clients would not know the difference. However, if the goal is to be a better lab today than you were yesterday, you choose NRC's CLAS program."
Anthony Ulrich, Vice President
Ulrich Metrology Inc.
CLAS Laboratory, Lachine, Québec
Formal recognition of capability by a third party using internationally-recognized accreditation criteria and procedures has many advantages.
Benefits to the accredited laboratory:
- Potential for increased business through greater client confidence
- Savings of time and money by reducing redundant assessments and audits
- Increased visibility through certification of measurement traceability and uncertainty by an organization with recognized international stature
- Opportunity to benefit from direct interaction with NRC scientists
- Transfer of measurement technologies from the national laboratory
Benefits to clients of the accredited laboratory:
- Easily identifiable sources of competent calibration services in the readily available list of SCC-Accredited Calibration Laboratories
- Potential for increased market acceptance of products due to the national and international recognition of calibration reports
- Reduced assessment costs due to increased confidence in calibration report.
Katalin Deczky
Tel: (613) 991-6942
email:katalin.deczky@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Elizabeth Lambe
Tel: (613) 993-5976
email:elizabeth.lambe@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
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