ISO 17025 vs ISO 17020: laboratory or inspection body?

ISO 17025 sets the requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories; ISO/IEC 17020 does the same for bodies that perform inspection. In a cargo trade, the laboratory that analyses the sample falls under the first, and the surveyor who inspects the holds and draws the sample under the second. Both are standards for accreditation, which is why a laboratory is accredited to ISO 17025, not certified.

ISO 17025 and ISO 17020 side by side

	ISO/IEC 17025	ISO/IEC 17020
Title	General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories	Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies performing inspection
Current edition	2017, third edition, confirmed by ISO in 2023	2026, third edition, published 27 March 2026; the 2012 edition is withdrawn
For	testing and calibration laboratories	inspection bodies
In the agri trade	the laboratory behind a certificate of analysis	the superintendent behind sampling, supervision and an inspection certificate
GAFTA register	Approved Analysts: 17025 with the appropriate scope, or GAFTA's own standard	Approved Superintendents: 17020 Type A with the appropriate scope, or GAFTA's own standard

ISO describes both standards in the same terms: requirements for competence, impartiality and consistent operation. The difference is the activity. A laboratory produces a test or calibration result. An inspection body examines an item and decides whether it conforms to requirements, which ISO notes can concern quantity as well as quality and safety.

For the documents themselves, see certificate of analysis versus certificate of quality and inspection certificate versus inspection report.

Accredited, not certified

The two words sound alike and mean different things.

• Certification is written assurance by an independent body that a product, service or system meets specific requirements (ISO). A company is certified to ISO 9001; a management system certification body issues that certificate.
• Accreditation is formal recognition by an accreditation body that such a body works to international standards; ISO calls it independent confirmation of competence. European accreditation bodies accredit laboratories against ISO/IEC 17025, inspection bodies against ISO/IEC 17020, and certification bodies against standards such as ISO/IEC 17021 and 17065 (EA).

So the chain runs upwards: the accreditation body checks the checker. ISO does not certify or issue certificates; it develops the standards.

An accreditation is granted for an agreed scope, and the body may use the accreditation mark only for that scope (EA). "ISO 17025 accredited" therefore tells you little until you know which tests are covered.

In the European Union each member state has one national accreditation body under Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, such as the RvA in the Netherlands. Under the EA multilateral agreement, results from bodies accredited by one signatory are accepted as equivalent by the others. Worldwide, the ILAC and IAF arrangements did the same. Since 1 January 2026 the Global Accreditation Cooperation (Global ACI) has taken over their roles, and the worldwide arrangement is now the Global ACI Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MRA).

Types of inspection body: A, B, C and now non-A

ISO/IEC 17020 classifies inspection bodies by how independent they are of what they inspect. The 2012 edition had three types, A, B and C. The 2026 edition, according to ISO, simplifies this to two: Type A and Type non-A.

A Type A body and its staff have no stake in the items they inspect: they do not design, make, supply, install, buy, own, use or maintain them (ILAC-P15, on the 2012 edition). ILAC treats this as yes or no: a risk analysis with control measures cannot make up for a failure to meet it. Types B and C were other types of independence. ILAC notes that Type C carries the same impartiality and competence requirements as Type A, and points to it in sectors where most available inspectors are themselves engaged with the items. The Dutch accreditation body now assesses an existing Type B or C body as Type non-A (RvA, ASR013).

For a buyer, the type answers one question: is the inspector free of any stake in the goods? GAFTA's ISO route for approved superintendents accepts only Type A, to "the latest version" of ISO/IEC 17020; whether a 2012 accreditation still counts during the transition, the register page does not say. For a small firm weighing the route, ISO 17020 accreditation for a small inspection company goes through the steps and what the RvA assesses. See what an independent cargo surveyor does.

ISO/IEC 17020:2026: the transition

The 2026 edition was published on 27 March 2026. Besides the new types it introduces risk-based thinking (ISO), broadens the control of external providers and adds a section on data and information control that includes software validation (UKAS, RvA).

The international transition period is three years: accreditations still on the 2012 edition cease on 27 March 2029. National bodies set the steps in between. UKAS has accepted applications only to the 2026 edition since 1 September 2026 and makes assessments to it mandatory from 1 January 2028. The RvA uses the same start date and makes regular assessments to the 2026 edition mandatory from 1 July 2027. ISO/IEC 17025 is not affected; its 2017 edition remains current.

What to check as a client

An RvA scope annex, the document that lists what an accreditation covers, shows the standard and its edition, the registration number with the inspection type, the validity dates, the locations, and per activity the field, the kind of inspection and the methods. Read your certificate against it:

• Is the accreditation body's mark on the certificate, and is that body a signatory to the EA MLA or the Global ACI MRA? During the transition, certificates may still carry the ILAC MRA or IAF MLA mark.
• Is the test method or inspection you rely on actually on the scope?
• For an inspection body: which type, and which edition of 17020?

EA's own four steps cover the first two points and end with: if in doubt, contact the accreditation body. Where the contract prescribes who samples and analyses, see sampling rules in the agri trade.

Where Operium stands

Operium Solutions is a software company. It is not accredited, holds no ISO certification, and does not inspect, sample or analyse cargo. FOSS is software for inspection companies and the port, with a sector specialist at the table: measurements entered once, nine report types from the same input, sample tracking and a client portal with live status. Accreditation remains the accreditation body's judgement of your organisation; no software changes that. To talk it through, get in touch; we start with a free QuickScan.