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Accreditation programs for laboratories

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) accredits and recognizes the competence and reliability of laboratory organizations’ facilities through its Program for the Accreditation of Laboratories/Canada, better known by its bilingual acronym PALCAN. In addition to the accreditation of testing and calibration laboratories against ISO/IEC 17025, SCC offers accreditation for Medical Testing Laboratories against ISO 15189, Proficiency Testing (PT) provider accreditation against ISO/IEC 17043, and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) recognition.

Facilities that conduct scientific testing in a variety of mainstream areas, as well as those that specialize in a particular field such as medical laboratories or a Program Specialty Area (PSA), may apply for accreditation from the Standards Council of Canada under the PALCAN program. The Program requirements for SCC accreditation are outlined in the PALCAN Handbook (CAN-P-1570).

What is involved in the laboratory accreditation process?

SCC partners with the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ)  and the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) in the delivery of its medical laboratory accreditation program.

It also co-ordinates the efforts of affiliated full service partner organizations:

What is the nature of SCC's relationship with its full service partners?

SCC and its partners have been evaluated and demonstrated their competence to operate the Laboratory Accreditation Program to the requirements of ISO/IEC 17011.

As a signatory to several international and regional arrangements, SCC accreditation is recognized around the globe.  Under these arrangements, each organization recognizes the equivalence of accreditations performed by its counterparts, and promotes the acceptance of test results from such accreditations within its own country.  To this end, linkages are maintained with the following laboratory accreditation organizations: