The A2LA Accreditation Program for Reference Material Producers is designed for producers of 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.

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.)

It should also be note that ISO Guide 34 required compliance with ISO Guide 30:1992 (Terms and Definitions Used in Connection with Reference Materials), ISO Guide 31:1981 (Contents of Certificates of Reference Materials), and ISO Guide 35:1989 (Certification of Reference Materials – General and Statistical Principles.)

The full application package includes the following four documents:

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