ISTA requires that its member laboratories wishing to issue ISTA Certificates should fulfil the ISTA Accreditation Standard. The quality assurance program of the laboratory should be assessed on-site by two ISTA auditors. The following six steps explain the procedure for laboratories interested to get ISTA Accreditation:

1. ISTA Membership
Laboratories intending to become accredited have to become ISTA member first. They should contact the ISTA Secretariat for the necessary application forms and complete the form (Form D) available from the Secretariat. The ISTA Executive Committee will then decide about the application and grant membership.

2. Participation in ISTA Proficiency Testing Program
All accredited laboratories and those interested to be accredited have to participate successfully in the ISTA Inter-laboratory Proficiency Testing Program, consisting of at least three referee test rounds per year. Seed samples of known quality are sent to the laboratories to carry out the examination according to the ISTA Rules. The results have to be reported within a three months period. The results are then statistically analysed. The participating laboratories get a detailed evaluation sheet that shows their performance. In case results are out of tolerance, the participating laboratory gets a test leader report advising possible corrective actions to take to enhance the laboratory's performance continuously.

3. Establishment of Quality Assurance Program
A laboratory that wishes to be accredited has to set up its own Quality Assurance Program including quality documentation following the ISTA Accreditation Standard and its bylaws. This standard is based on ISO 25 guide, but has been especially amended to meet the needs of seed testing laboratories. For example sampling as an important preliminary stage of testing has been included and only the sampling and testing procedures prescribed in the ISTA Rules are accepted. An agreement with the current ISO 17025 for testing and calibration laboratories is previewed.

4. ISTA Audit
Prior to accreditation, and every three years thereafter, the laboratories are audited by two ISTA auditors (system and technical auditor) and based on the auditors' recommendation and the performance in the referee tests, accreditation is granted. Prior to the audit, the laboratories are requested to submit the quality documents translated into one of the official languages of ISTA to the Secretariat. The auditors will check the appropriateness of these documents prior to the audit. If the documents are considered appropriate for auditing a date will be arranged accordingly with the laboratory. The quality documents should at least contain a description of the quality assurance system, standard operational procedures (SOPs) and working instructions for all test methods carried out in the laboratory.

5. Authorization to issue ISTA Certificates
After having successfully fulfilled the requirements of accreditation, authorization to issue ISTA Certificates is obtained through the agreement of the government of the respective country. Therefore, the applicant is requested to complete Annex D of the application form by the respective government.

6. Establishment of Monitoring System
Upon decision of the government of each country a Monitoring System could be established for company laboratories.

The ISTA Accreditation is valid for three years. After the three year period a re-accreditation audit has to take place to maintain the accreditation status and the authorisation to issue ISTA Certificates. For further information on the ISTA quality assurance program please refer to the Secretariat: Martina Rösch ISTA Secretariat, P.O. Box 308, 8302 Bassersdorf, Switzerland; Fax: ++41-1-8386001; E-mail: ista.office@ista .ch; Website: http://www.seedtest.org.