23 SEED TESTING INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER 2026 • ACCREDITATION Revision of ISTA Accreditation Standard The revised version of the ISTA Accreditation Standard (8.0) is now in force. At the February 2026 ECOM meeting, the revised Directives Acc-D-06B for ‘Accreditation of Laboratories and Sampling Entities with Sampling Units at Multiple Sites’; Acc-D-01 for ‘Termination, Suspension and Withdrawal of ISTA Accreditation’; and Acc-D-07 ‘Accreditation and Scope of Accreditation Policy’, were approved with validity from 16 March 2026. These directives are posted on the ISTA website (see www.seedtest.org/en/services-header/ documents/accreditation-documents.html). Training and Education As an outcome of the auditors’ workshop organised in Poznan in December 2023, a guideline for the calibration of laboratory equipment (balances/scales and thermometers) is in progress, and we hope it will be available no later than the end of 2026. This is being created with the great support of Steve Jones, Joel Léchappé, Harry Nijenstein and Stephan Brière. The guideline will be submitted for checking and opinions to the ISTA Technical Committees (TCOM) and as soon as it is finalised, will be available on the ISTA website for free viewing and download. Another important contribution of the department to ISTA’s training and education programme was a ‘Quality Assurance Workshop for Beginners’, delivered in French in November 2025 in Dakar, Senegal, with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). For 2026, a similar workshop will be run in Spanish in Mexico. In the same area of quality assurance, three webinars were given in 2025 and so far, one in 2026. For each webinar we had over 200 participants, with more than 880 participants in total across all webinars. • Risk and Opportunities Assessment, March 2025 (see www.youtube.com/ watch?v=0TfTMa2tfIc&t=235s) • Revision of the ISTA Accreditation Standard and the Directive Acc-D-6B, two sessions in April (see www.youtube.com/ watch?v=s5fFewXQ0cM&t=113s and www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdujhx-CcQU) • eCertificates, two sessions in November 2025 (see www.youtube.com/ watch?v=emhzE0PkZoo&t=134s and www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK5mK7lQ9DA) • Management Review, November 2025 (see www.youtube.com/ watch?v=SUAk4535OBs&t=90s) • Critical Suppliers Evaluation, March 2026 (see www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p7EWyg3W4M) A webinar on the ‘ISTA Standard PT Programme Plan 2026–2028’ was organised by the Proficiency Test (PT) administrator at the ISTA Secretariat in collaboration with the PT Committee Chair and Vice-Chair. All past webinars are available to view on the ISTA YouTube channel (go to www.youtube.com/@ internationalseedtestingas8438). In October 2026 we plan another webinar focused on changes to the ISTA accreditation scope. Two projects have also started for the Accreditation and Technical Department: • Project 1: Accreditation of ISTA laboratories for seed health tests – a new approach; with the support of the Seed Health (SH) Committee, ECOM–SHWG, ECOM–AWG − From validated methods to more method- based accreditation • Project 2: Submitted sample storage after testing; together with the Seed Storage Committee and the Bulking and Sampling Committee; other ISTA TCOMs will support the project, and the conclusion will improve requirement 2.5.4.7 of the International Rules for Seed Testing (ISTA Rules) A new LinkedIn page, ‘ISTA accredited members community’ has now been launched. We hope that this will be beneficial for all ISTA accredited members. Finally, the excellent support received from the ECOM-AWG during the past year for many specific cases needs to be commended. We the auditors would like to mention the support and the good communication with the ISTA TCOMs. Their answers to questions raised by auditors and laboratories during audits and when studying the ISTA Rules, have helped us to improve and clarify aspects for future audits also to suggest possible changes to the ISTA Rules.
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