A Buying Team's Evaluation Checklist for Any Pakistani Laboratory

There's a better approach. Five questions, answered in sequence, that can be completed in under 15 minutes and that create a defensible due diligence record for any Pakistani laboratory.

Question one: Is the laboratory PNAC-accredited under ISO/IEC 17025? This is the gateway question. Everything else is irrelevant if the answer is no.

Navigate to pnac.gov.pk. Look for the laboratory search function. Enter the laboratory's name. If the laboratory appears with a current accreditation certificate, proceed to question two. If it doesn't appear, or if the certificate status shows as expired, stop here.

A laboratory that is not in PNAC's accredited database cannot issue internationally recognized compliance documentation under the ILAC MRA framework. It may do good quality work for internal purposes. It cannot produce test reports that a statutory auditor assessing your CSRD disclosure, or a customs authority checking EU REACH compliance, will accept as credible third-party evidence.

When a laboratory that is not PNAC-accredited tells you it is "ISO certified," it may be describing one of two things: it has implemented an ISO 17025 quality management system without being externally accredited to it, or it has a different ISO certification like ISO 9001, which is a quality management standard not a laboratory accreditation.

Neither of these is equivalent to PNAC accreditation. The word "certified" in laboratory contexts is genuinely confusing because it's used loosely. "Accredited" has a specific meaning: assessed by an accreditation body against the standard and found to conform. "Certified" may or may not mean this.

Question two: Does the accreditation scope cover the specific test method you need?

Open the scope document from the PNAC listing. This document lists every test method for which the laboratory holds accreditation, identified by the standard code and version.

You're looking for your required method by its exact standard reference. Not "chemical testing" as a category. The specific standard code.

For aromatic amines: EN ISO 14362-1 and EN ISO 14362-3 should both appear. If only EN ISO 14362-1 appears, the laboratory is accredited for azo dye testing but not for 4-amino- azobenzene specifically.

For PFAS: look for the specific LC-MS/MS method or the total fluorine/TOF method, depending on which you need. "PFAS testing" as a general descriptor without method specificity is insufficient.

For nickel release: EN 1811 and EN 12472 should appear for complete coverage of new and coated metals.

For formaldehyde: EN ISO 14184-1 or an equivalent method.

For Cr(VI) in leather: EN ISO 17075. For fibre composition: the relevant standard for the specific method used (NIR, Scofield burning, or wet chemical dissolution methods each have their own standard references).

If a method you need isn't in the scope, the laboratory is not accredited for that method at that facility. You can still use the laboratory for methods it is accredited for. For the method not in scope, you need a different laboratory or need to verify whether the laboratory can test under accreditation from a different ILAC MRA member body for that specific method.

Question three: Is the laboratory independent of the supplier you're testing?

An independent third-party laboratory has no commercial relationship with the supplier whose products it tests, beyond the service fee for testing. It has no ownership connection, no exclusive supply arrangement, no preferential pricing tied to test outcomes, and no business relationship that creates an incentive to produce favorable results.

Ask the laboratory directly: what is your ownership structure? Do you have any commercial relationship with [supplier name] beyond laboratory services? Has the supplier ever been involved in decisions about your testing programme or methodology?

These are legitimate professional questions. A credible, accredited laboratory will answer them transparently. If the answer reveals any ownership connection or commercial dependency, assess carefully whether that connection creates a conflict of interest for the specific testing relationship.

Question four: Does the laboratory participate in external proficiency testing for the methods I need?

ISO/IEC 17025 requires accredited laboratories to participate in proficiency testing programmes as part of maintaining their accreditation. PNAC verifies this participation during assessment visits.

Proficiency testing, also called interlaboratory comparison, is where a laboratory receives a blind sample with unknown concentrations, tests it, submits results, and receives feedback on how their results compare to the known reference values and to other laboratories' results. Consistent good performance in proficiency testing demonstrates that the laboratory's methods produce accurate, reproducible results when tested against independent reference standards.

Ask: which proficiency testing programmes do you participate in for the methods I need? When was the most recent round? Can you tell me the outcome?

A laboratory that participates in recognized proficiency testing programmes, such as FAPAS for food testing, BAM or similar for chemical textile testing, or other recognized interlaboratory comparison schemes, and that can point to documented satisfactory outcomes, has provided the strongest quality assurance evidence a laboratory can offer. Question five: Does the laboratory's sample report include all required elements?

Before committing to use any laboratory, request a sample report for the specific test method you need. Review it for: PNAC accreditation statement with certificate number, specific method reference with year/version, results table showing result, limit, and pass/fail for each parameter, measurement uncertainty statement, authorized signatory name and role, and coherent date sequence.

If any of these elements are missing from the sample report, they'll be missing from your compliance documentation. That's a problem you can identify now rather than when you need to use the report in an audit.

Applying the checklist systematically

Build this checklist into your laboratory onboarding process. Before approving any new laboratory for use in your Pakistan sourcing compliance programme, run the five questions and document the answers. Keep the documentation in your laboratory vendor file. Update it when laboratory accreditation certificates come up for renewal.

This takes under 15 minutes per laboratory. It creates a defensible due diligence record. And it prevents the scenario where you discover a report is from a non-accredited laboratory after it's already been submitted as compliance documentation.

For testing services with full PNAC accreditation documentation, contact Tti Labs at customerservices@ttilabs.net or 111-786-001.