European Commission extends transition period
The European Commission has extended the harmonisation status of the laboratory standard EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005. Accreditations that are based on this older version of the international standard and are not converted to the new version of the standard on schedule will now not lose their validity until 1 July 2021, as opposed to the earlier date of 1 January 2021.
With its announcement of the extended deadline, the European Commission is following the lead set by the decision of the international accreditation organisation ILAC, the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation, which in June decided to extend the transition period for the revised version of the laboratory standard ISO/IEC 17025:2017 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Unlike the harmonisation status for the standard, the ILAC transition period ends one month earlier, on 1 June 2021.
The adaptation of the harmonisation status of the previous version of EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005 within the European Union was the prerequisite for all accreditations still based on the old standard to remain valid within the EU during the extended transition period from January to June 2021. With the European Commission’s announcement on 4 December 2020, this is now the case.
Despite the extended deadline, DAkkS recommends that all laboratories that have not yet fulfilled the requirements for the transition should not lose any time in doing so.
