 Under
an agreement reached between the Bureau de normalisation
du Québec (BNQ) and the Standards Council of Canada (SCC),
it is now possible for Québec laboratories to prove their
technical competence to clients. This agreement enables
laboratories to be recognized by the BNQ and accredited by
the SCC without having to undergo several assessments or
meet a series of different criteria.
Under this agreement, the BNQ’s qualified personnel
assess the laboratories that wish to be accredited by the
SCC within the framework of the PALCAN program.
The BNQ has also put in place a program that makes it
possible to assess laboratories that wish to be recognized
as conforming to the standard ISO/IEC 17025 (formerly ISO/IEC
Guide 25) under the PALCAN accreditation program. The
purpose of the program is to verify the technical
competence of laboratories for carrying out tests.
The SCC’s accreditation programs are based on
international criteria that contribute to the recognition
of laboratories both in Canada and abroad. The national
and international recognition granted by the PALCAN
program means considerable added value since it can foster
the free trade of products and services in a global market
environment.
The laboratory appraisals under the PALCAN program are
wide-ranging. They can involve, for instance, construction
materials, mineral analysis, the agri-food industry,
environmental management, biomedicine, electrical and
electronic products and calibration. The testing fields
are also numerous and include biology, chemistry, physics,
mechanics, optics and thermodynamics, etc.
|
