Like the calibration of physical measurement instruments, the use of properly characterised reference materials for the ‘calibration’ and/or control of testing methodologies of a chemical, biological or physical nature is of fundamental importance in many measurements made in industry, commerce and society, and provides the underlying core for the IANZ accreditation of testing laboratories conducting such tests. IANZ accreditation in the field of Reference Material Production can be granted to any organisation producing reference materials, whether certified reference materials (CRM) for the validation/calibration of testing methods or reference materials (RM) for quality control purposes.
A Fee Schedule can be found under the Forms section on this page.
The scope of accreditation of an accredited reference material producer is, in general, classified according to the type(s) of reference material produced (the Class of Reference Material).
Commonly accredited Classes of Reference Material currently include:
* Reference gas mixtures
* Soils and plant material
* Foodstuffs, dairy products
A full list of the current Classes of Reference Materials is included in the IANZ publication Specific Criteria for Accreditation – Reference Material Producers. Organisations seeking IANZ accreditation under the Reference Material Producer programme should not consider this list exhaustive, nor feel constrained by it. This Class of Reference Material structure used by IANZ is an arbitrary classification system used for convenience and can be added to as the situation demands. The scope of an accredited reference material producer is intended to give an overview of the areas of competence of that producer, not list specific materials which are produced. The accreditation process of the individual reference material producer will result in an appropriate description of the reference material producer's scope of competence.
