How to Check a Laboratory's ISO/IEC 17025 Scope

To check a laboratory’s ISO/IEC 17025 scope, find its record with the accreditation body, open the accompanying scope or schedule, and compare the covered activities with the test on your report. If you cannot establish a match, ask the laboratory to identify the applicable scope entry.

A supplier may link to an accreditation certificate beside a certificate of analysis. Before treating that as evidence for a particular test, read the scope. The laboratory’s name alone does not tell you which work the accreditation covers.

Start with the issuing body

ILAC describes accreditation as an independent evaluation of competence and impartiality for specific activities. It identifies ISO/IEC 17025 as the standard used for testing and calibration laboratory accreditation.

Find the accreditation body’s name and the laboratory’s accreditation number on the supplied document. Use the body’s own website to look up that record. Compare the laboratory name and address with the issuer on your report. If the names differ, ask the laboratory to explain the relationship before treating them as the same organization.

ILAC’s facility accreditation FAQ explains that ILAC does not accredit laboratories itself. It directs readers to accreditation bodies and provides a signatory search for its mutual recognition arrangement. The FAQ also distinguishes membership from signatory status. If recognition under that arrangement matters to your project, check the body’s listing for the relevant activity; a membership logo alone does not answer that question.

Open the scope as well as the certificate

UKAS explains in its accreditation schedule guidance that a schedule defines an organization’s accredited activities, including their limits and conditions. It also describes public access to organization records and schedules on its website. Other accreditation bodies may present their records differently.

Look for the document or digital record that identifies the covered tests. Save its title, identifier, revision or issue date, and source URL alongside the certificate. If you received only a certificate image, obtain the associated scope before deciding whether it covers the work you need.

Use the following questions as a review aid. They are not a prescribed scope format, and some records will organize the information under different headings.

Compare	Question to resolve
Laboratory and location	Does the record identify the organization and site responsible for the reported work?
Material or sample type	Does the stated coverage include the kind of material examined?
Test or measured property	Does the scope cover the result you are reviewing?
Method reference	Can you match the report’s method to a covered method or obtain an explanation of the relationship?
Limits and conditions	Do any stated ranges, restrictions, or notes affect that match?
Dates and status	What record applies to the period when the laboratory performed the work?

Match the result you need

A report can contain several results. Review each result for which you intend to make an accreditation claim. Do not infer coverage for all of them from one matching entry.

For example, suppose a fictional report lists an HPLC result and an identity result from another method. You find a scope entry that appears relevant to the HPLC work. You still need to establish the coverage of the identity test before describing both results as within scope. This example does not describe a Peptesa laboratory, product, or report.

Even the same instrument name can leave questions unresolved. Compare the method and material information available in the two records, then ask the issuer about any gap. Our COA-reading guide explains how to locate the analytical fields before making this comparison.

If a scope uses broad categories or refers to additional controlled information, ask the laboratory which entry applies and what supporting information establishes the match. Treat a missing exact phrase as an unresolved question rather than proof that the laboratory lacks competence or that the result is invalid.

Check the relevant dates

Check the current directory status when evaluating a laboratory for new work. For an older report, also ask which scope and status applied on the testing date. Today’s record may not resolve a question about an earlier period.

Keep the test date, report issue date, scope date, and your retrieval date separate. If the files disagree, ask the accreditation body about its record and the laboratory about its reported work. Our guide to current, corrected, and archived reports explains how to retain a document history without confusing a later copy with a new test.

Record a conclusion you can support

Keep a short review note with the report: the laboratory and site checked, the accreditation body and number, the scope entry you relied on, and any unresolved questions. Include the date you checked the source. Save the issuer’s explanation if you needed one to connect the records.

Write down the boundary of your conclusion. Confirming an accreditation record does not establish that a supplier’s vial matches the tested sample. You still need to match the lot number to the report and review the reported results.

Peptesa’s planned quality standards describe its prelaunch approach. This guide makes no accreditation claim for Peptesa or any laboratory and does not verify a particular product. Use it to organize a scope check and identify questions for the responsible issuer.

Sources

1. About ILACInternational Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation · Accessed September 9, 2026
2. Frequently Asked Questions: Can ILAC accredit my facility?International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation · Accessed September 9, 2026
3. Introduction to the UKAS Digital Accreditation ScheduleUnited Kingdom Accreditation Service · Accessed September 9, 2026

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