b'parallel to the paper certificates on a voluntary basis, beginning after the ISTA Centenary Annual Meeting, so long as that decision is approved by the Ordinary General Meeting. Countries wishing only to receive eCertificates should notify the importers of this in advance.Proficiency TestingOnly Member Laboratories of ISTA may become accredited. Prior to accreditation, applicants must demonstrate their ability to carry out seed testing in accordance with the ISTA Rules through participation in the Proficiency Test Programme (PT). There are three PT rounds per year covering atFigure 2: Comparison of ratings of ISTA Proficiency Tests in 2023 by ISTA accredited (left) least four crop groups and different tests.and non-accredited laboratories (right)A Rating (1), B-Rating (2), C-Rating (3) and Below As Figure 2 shows, ISTA accreditedMinimum Performance (4).laboratories in most cases perform better than non-accredited laboratories in ISTA proficiency testing. This demonstratesNumber of ISTA Accredited Laboratoriesthat the ISTA accreditation system is effectively and consistently assuring uniformity and quality in seed testing globally. All ISTA Member Laboratories are eligible to participate in all test rounds of the ISTA Proficiency Test Programme. Testing is mandatory for ISTA Accredited Member Laboratories and voluntary for non-accredited laboratories who want to benchmark themselves with accredited laboratories and prepare themselves for accreditation. Three times a year, seed samples are dispatched to laboratories participating in the ISTA Proficiency Test Programme, the goal of which is to identify that all laboratories meet the minimum standard of performance that is reasonable toFigure 3: The number of ISTA Accredited Laboratories has grown by about 50% over the be expected from an ISTA Accreditedpast 23 years, or about 2% per year. Laboratory. ISTA Member candidates for accreditation are required to establish arelevant criteria. Accredited LaboratoriesThe growth rate of ISTA accredited quality assurance system which compliesare re-audited in regular intervals tolaboratories is about 2% annually over the with ISTAs requirements. Criteria forexamine if they continuously abide to thelast 23 years (See Figure 3). This is a little becoming accredited are formulatedISTA accreditation requirements.less than the growth rate for the number in the ISTA Accreditation Standard.Once the laboratory is accredited, itof ISTA Certificates issued, which is about Part of the accreditation is the on-siteis authorised to issue ISTA Certificates2.5 % annually. Nonetheless, the number assessment. An experienced audit teamfor methods and species covered by itsis increasing especially in the last two verifies the laboratorys compliance withscope of accreditation.years after Covid-19. ISTA 100TH ANNIVERSARY EDITIONSEEDWORLD.COM /11'