Laboratory accreditation according to TS EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard and importance in terms of SMEs

The development and diversity of the industrial products brought the control of the products and suitability of the products, whether they are convenience or not. A large number of Conformity Assessment Bodies emerged in line with development of the industry. As soon as increasing number of these organizations also led to the need for supervision of these institutions. This situation has led to the to the concept of accreditation. The World Trade Organization (WTO) attaches great importance to the regulations of a single and internationally recognized document, which is written by the Conformity Assessment Laboratories for beneficiaries within the framework of removal of technical barriers in trade market. For this purpose, the organizations, which run activities of conformity assessment and working according to international standards, have established units of accreditation for the purpose of realizing mutual recognition in different regions. Thanks to the presence of accredited laboratories, SMEs have been able to reduce test costs. The "Test once, Accepted everywhere" motto describes accreditation in the best possible way. In this thesis study consisting of four chapters, the topic of laboratory accreditation according to TS EN ISO'IEC 17025 Standart and ımportance in terms os SMEs has been discussed. In the first part of the study, the concept of accreditation was examined and information about the importance of accreditation, the international dimension of accreditation, international and regional organizations and the Turkish Accreditation Agency were given. In the second part of the study, pre-accreditation preparations and accreditation process were examined and the establishment of the quality management system and the team, training studies, accreditation application process and accreditation audit issues were examined. In the third part of the study, the historical development of the TS EN ISO / IEC 17025 standard, including the general conditions for the qualification of laboratories for testing and calibration, and the advantages and disadvantages to the laboratories have been examined. Beside this, attempts have been made to make individual explanations of the standards. With these explanations, a pilot study was conducted for the laboratories who want to be accredited. In the fourth and last part of the study, an analysis of the questionnaire with 163 accredited enterprises according to TS EN ISO / IEC 17025 standard was carried out and evaluations were carried out according to the results obtained. In addition, information on the state support for the laboratory and accreditation has been provided. Finally, the importance of acreditation laboratories in terms of SMEs and the problems faced by SMEs are addressed.