Accreditation in a Forensic Science Process

The State Committee for Forensic Expertise of the Republic of Belarus held an international scientific and practical conference "Eurasian partnership of forensic experts: challenges, solutions and prospects for development" on 19-20 April 2018. Participation in the conference was attended by more than 30 institutions from 20 countries.

The specialists of the BSCA took part in the events held within the framework of the conference. During the section №2 "Forensic Examinations" a report on the topic "Accreditation of forensic laboratories" was presented. Currently, in the international practice, to increase the reliability of the results of forensic examinations and reduce judicial errors, accreditation of forensic expert laboratories of a wide profile is actively conducted he requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO/EC 17020, taking into account ILAC-G19:08/2014.

By the World and European expert community, the process of accrediting forensic laboratories is regarded as one of the most important factors in ensuring the quality of expert production, ensuring mutual recognition of examinations, and forming the basis for international integration of forensic experts within regional and global processes.

In December 2011, the European Council adopted the Concept of development of the field of forensic examination until 2020. Accreditation of forensic institutions and laboratories is one of the components of this Concept.

Within the European Union, accreditation of forensic experts is carried out by national accreditation bodies:

Great Britain - 129 accredited laboratories;

Spain - 17 laboratories;

Italy - 26 laboratories;

Lithuania - 9 laboratories;

Malta - 2 laboratories;

Poland - 29 laboratories;

Slovakia - 3 laboratories;

France - 50 laboratories;

Czech Republic - 3 laboratories, etc.