The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has been granted accreditation by the Netherlands Accreditation Council in recognition of the fact that the Organisation now complies with the accreditation criteria described in ILAC G13:2000 and ISO/IEC 17025:1999. The accreditation was granted on 28 March 2001, and was confirmed in a ceremony at the OPCW headquarters in The Hague on 11 April, when the Chief Executive of the Netherlands Accreditation Council handed over the certificate of accreditation to the Director-General, José M. Bustani. The OPCW is one of the very few international organisations which has been granted this high level of accreditation.
This accreditation is the end result of a three-year effort on the part of the OPCW Laboratory and the Office of Internal Oversight. It signifies international recognition of the competence of the Organisation, and reflects the high standards of quality assurance being carried out within the OPCW. The quality system of the Organisation has been determined to fulfil the quality requirements of ISO 9001:2000.
The accreditation covers many activities within the purview of the OPCW Laboratory, such as proficiency testing for designated laboratories, the organisation and management of the Central OPCW Analytical Database, and the testing of inspection equipment. The Office of Internal Oversight was accredited for certifying the organisation of the Central OPCW Analytical Database, as well as the testing of inspection equipment.
10/2001