The Scope of Accreditation of the Forensic Laboratory: the Concept and Patterns of Change

The purpose of the research work is to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the «flexible» field of accreditation of forensic laboratories and the field of accreditation that has a rigid range. The development of standardization in forensic science, including the expansion of the number of forensic laboratories that build their activities in accordance with the requirements of the international standard GOST ISO/IEC 17025-2019 «General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories», encourages us to pay attention to this issue again. In the course of the study, the following conclusions were formulated. Insufficient clarity in defining the «flexible» scope of accreditation and differences in the understanding of its boundaries by the accreditation body, the forensic laboratory and the customer can lead to abuse by individual laboratories and the development of unfair competition. This argument in favor of abandoning the «flexible» field of accreditation for forensic laboratories seems to be much more weighty than the listed advantages of its practical application.

scope of accreditation, forensic laboratory, accreditation body, method, procedure