The formation of the British Calibration Service (BCS) in 1966 represented the beginning of laboratory accreditation in the UK. Here you will find detailed information about the history of the BCS, including many of the criteria documents that were in use at the time and pictures of the people involved.

The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the UK’s National Accreditation Body, responsible for determining, in the public interest, the technical competence and integrity of organisations such as those offering testing, calibration and certification services.

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the UK’s National Measurement Institute, and is a world-leading centre of excellence in developing and applying the most accurate measurement standards, science and technology available.

The European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) is an association of national accreditation bodies in Europe that are officially recognised by their national Governments to assess and verify – against international standards – organisations that carry out evaluation services such as certification, verification, inspection, testing and calibration (also known as conformity assessment services).

ILAC, the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation, is the international organisation for accreditation bodies operating in accordance with ISO/IEC 17011 and involved in the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies including calibration laboratories (using ISO/IEC 17025), testing laboratories (using ISO/IEC 17025), medical testing laboratories (using ISO 15189) and inspection bodies (using ISO/IEC 17020).

The BIPM (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures) is an international organization established by the Metre Convention, through which Member States act together on matters related to measurement science and measurement standards. It is the coordinator of the world-wide measurement system, ensuring comparable and internationally accepted measurement results.