Traceability

Terms and Explanations

• Traceability has been defined as "the property of the result of a measurement or the value of a standard whereby it can be related to stated references, usually national or international standards, through an unbroken chain of comparisons all having stated uncertainties¹." This definition has achieved global acceptance in the metrology community.
• ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a federation of national standards bodies from more than one hundred countries whose mission is to promote activities related to standardization in order to facilitate international exchange of goods and services and to develop co-operation among its members in the areas of intellectual, scientific, technological, and economic activity (REMCO 1995). The ISO functions through its technical committees. Subcommittees and working groups to produce international agreements that are published as international 'technical' standards.
• Standards is a term surrounded by ambiguity. The word 'standard' can either be defined as a written specification (i.e. - 'technical standard') or a chemical reference material intended to define the concentrations of specified components (i.e. - 'measurement standard'). This guide uses the latter definition.
• REMCO is ISO's Committee on Reference Materials. It was established in 1975 to carry out and encourage a broad international effort for harmonization and promotion of certified reference materials (CRMs) and their applications. REMCO task groups have produced a number of ISO Guides establishing definitions of reference materials and setting forth internationally agreed 'technical' standards for the production, certification, and use of reference materials. The primary ISO accreditations dealing with certified reference material manufacturers are clarified in our guide, ISO Guide 34, 17025, and 9001 Explained.
• NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) is "responsible for developing, maintaining, and disseminating national standards - realizations of the SI - for the basic measurement quantities, and for many derived measurement quantities. NIST is also responsible for assessing the measurement uncertainties associated with the values assigned to these measurement standards. As such, the concept of measurement traceability is central to NIST's mission." — source
• SRM (Standard Reference Material) is a federally registered trademark of NIST and the US Federal Government. This term describes the certified reference materials distributed specifically by NIST.

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