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ACCREDITATION  •
good’ ratings of the overall impression from 
laboratories is 97.8 % and no audit was rated as 
‘unsatisfactory’ (Fig. 3).
The support of audit administrators from the 
ISTA Secretariat and the colleagues contracted as 
auditors is to be commended. Their professional 
approach and high technical competence are 
also confirmed by the above feedback.
Changes and Challenges
Update on Non-Substantial 
Non-Conformities Policy
At the proposal of the ECOM-AWG during the 
February 2023 meeting, the ECOM approved the 
decision (effective from 16 February 2023) that 
ISTA (re-)accreditation will be granted only if 
all substantial (S) non-conformities identified 
during an ISTA audit are addressed no later than 
6 months after the audit date, and all  
non-substantial (NS) non-conformities are 
addressed no later than 9 months after  
the audit date.
It was also agreed that for the NS 
non-conformities, if more than 9 months are 
needed to complete the necessary work, then 
clear evidence that the planned corrective 
actions have started to be implemented must be 
provided.
The decision has been smoothly implemented 
and incorporated into the audit process by the 
auditors and all laboratories audited in 2025, and 
the three-year cycle was completed in February 
2026. In their meeting the auditors decided to 
keep the same rule for future audits, that if a NS 
non-conformity is found as not addressed at the 
audit it will be rated as S.
Figure 3. Feedback received from audits performed in 2025
were audited. Five laboratories and one sampling 
entity had their first audit, and 49 laboratories 
were evaluated to be re-accredited. Two on-site 
audits were performed for the extension of the 
scope for sampling and one re-audit. At the 
request of the Head of the Accreditation and 
Technical Department, the ECOM-WG approved 
the performance of six completely remote audits. 
For 2026, we estimate 54 audit assessments in 
total, including one re-audit and three first-time 
accreditation audits. By June 2026, the total 
number of accredited laboratories had already 
increased to 169 (Fig. 2).
Feedback From Laboratories
The feedback process has been finalised for all 
audits performed in 2025. All audited laboratories 
were invited to submit their feedback and 46 
laboratories answered (79 %). The majority of 
responding laboratories (37) considered the audit 
as ‘excellent’ (80.4 %), while eight laboratories 
rated it as ‘very good’ (17.4 %) and one laboratory 
(2.2 %) rated the audit as ‘satisfactory’.
The established key performance indicator (≥90 % 
‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ and 0 % ‘unsatisfactory’) 
was achieved, as the sum of ‘excellent’ and ‘very 
Participants to the auditors’ meeting in June 2026 held in Calgary, Canada

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