Understanding NABL: The Gold Standard for Laboratory Credibility in India
When a pharmaceutical company submits a drug dossier to CDSCO, when a food manufacturer defends a product before FSSAI, or when a factory needs to prove its wastewater meets pollution board limits — the test reports they submit must be credible. In India, that credibility is established by NABL accreditation.
NABL — the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories — is the apex body in India for assessing and accrediting testing and calibration laboratories. Operating under the aegis of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Government of India, NABL is India’s signatory to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) mutual recognition arrangement.
This ILAC membership is what gives NABL its international weight: test reports from NABL-accredited laboratories are accepted in over 100 countries that participate in the ILAC MRA. For Indian exporters, this removes the need for retesting in destination markets, saving time and money.
ISO/IEC 17025:2017 — The Technical Standard Behind NABL
NABL accreditation is based on ISO/IEC 17025:2017, the international standard for testing and calibration laboratories. The 2017 version (replacing the 2005 edition) introduced a risk-based approach aligned with ISO 9001:2015, placing greater emphasis on:
Technical Competence — Laboratories must demonstrate that their personnel, equipment, methods, and environment produce technically valid results. Competence is not self-declared; it is verified through on-site assessments by NABL technical assessors.
Impartiality — The 2017 revision added explicit requirements for managing conflicts of interest. A laboratory that also manufactures the products it tests must have documented mechanisms to protect test result integrity.
Measurement Uncertainty — Laboratories must quantify and report measurement uncertainty for all results. This is a significant change from older practice, where many labs reported results without uncertainty bounds.
Validity of Results — Laboratories must have a programme for monitoring the validity of results using internal quality control (IQC), proficiency testing (PT), and interlaboratory comparisons.
Key Clauses of ISO/IEC 17025:2017
| Clause | Topic |
|---|---|
| 4 | General requirements (impartiality, confidentiality) |
| 5 | Structural requirements (legal entity, management responsibility) |
| 6 | Resource requirements (personnel, equipment, metrological traceability) |
| 7 | Process requirements (methods, sampling, test/calibration, reporting) |
| 8 | Management system requirements (documentation, internal audit, corrective action) |
Clause 7 (process requirements) is where most laboratories invest the most effort: method validation, uncertainty estimation, calibration chains, and the generation of test reports that meet the standard’s mandatory reporting elements.
Benefits of Choosing a NABL-Accredited Testing Laboratory
1. Regulatory Acceptance
Government departments, pollution control boards, and regulatory agencies increasingly mandate NABL-accredited test reports. FSSAI requires NABL accreditation for food testing laboratories empanelled for regulatory surveillance. CDSCO guidance encourages NABL-accredited labs for pharmaceutical testing. The Ministry of Environment requires accredited labs for environmental monitoring submissions to pollution boards.
Submitting reports from non-accredited labs to these regulators creates risk — reports may be rejected, delays result, and penalties can follow.
2. International Recognition
Through India’s ILAC MRA signatory status, NABL-accredited reports are recognized in over 100 countries. For exporters of food, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and chemicals, this eliminates duplicate testing in destination markets. A NABL report from an accredited lab in India can satisfy import authorities in the EU, UK, USA, UAE, and Southeast Asian markets.
3. Technical Reliability
NABL accreditation is not a one-time certification. Laboratories undergo surveillance assessments and full re-assessments on defined cycles. Any deficiencies found during assessment must be corrected before accreditation is continued or extended. This continuous oversight cycle forces laboratories to maintain — and improve — their technical systems.
4. Legal and Liability Protection
When test results are used in legal proceedings, regulatory enforcement, or product liability cases, provenance matters. Results from an accredited laboratory, generated under a formally validated method by trained personnel with traceable equipment, stand up to scrutiny. Results from non-accredited labs are vulnerable to challenge.
How the NABL Accreditation Process Works
The path to NABL accreditation involves several stages:
Step 1: Application
Laboratories submit an application through the NABL portal, specifying their requested scope — the precise test methods, matrices, and parameter ranges they wish to have accredited. Scope definition is critical: accreditation covers only the specific methods listed, not general laboratory activity.
Step 2: Document Review
NABL reviewers examine the laboratory’s Quality Manual, procedures, method validation records, and equipment calibration certificates. Deficiencies trigger written observations that must be resolved before site assessment.
Step 3: On-Site Assessment
NABL technical assessors — subject matter experts drawn from the relevant technical domain — visit the laboratory to verify the document review against physical reality. They observe tests being performed, interview staff, examine equipment, review raw data, and assess the laboratory environment. A lead assessor coordinates the team and prepares the assessment report.
Step 4: Corrective Action and Decision
Post-assessment, the laboratory addresses all non-conformities with documented corrective actions and objective evidence. NABL’s accreditation committee reviews the assessment report and corrective actions before granting accreditation.
Step 5: Surveillance and Re-assessment
Accreditation is maintained through annual surveillance assessments and full re-assessments every two to four years. Scope extensions (adding new tests or parameters) require additional assessments.
Scopes of NABL Accreditation
NABL accreditation covers multiple technical disciplines:
Chemical Testing — Analysis of food, water, pharmaceuticals, petroleum products, building materials, metals, environmental samples, and more. The largest scope category in India.
Biological Testing — Microbiological testing of food, water, pharmaceuticals, and environmental samples. Also includes biological safety testing per pharmacopoeial methods.
Environmental Testing — Air quality monitoring, effluent and sewage testing, solid waste characterisation. Many pollution control boards require NABL-accredited reports.
Mechanical Testing — Materials testing, tensile strength, hardness, impact testing for metals and polymers.
Electrical Testing — Electrical safety, EMC, energy efficiency testing for electrical and electronic products.
Calibration — Temperature, mass, pressure, electrical, dimensional calibration services.
For pharmaceutical, food, and water quality sectors, Chemical and Biological scopes are most relevant.
Auriga Research’s NABL Accreditation
Auriga Research holds NABL accreditation (ISO/IEC 17025:2017) across five laboratory facilities in India. Our accreditation scope covers:
- Pharmaceutical testing (drug substances, finished dosage forms, stability)
- Food testing (nutritional analysis, contaminants, additives, microbiological)
- Water testing (potable water, wastewater, groundwater, packaged water)
- Environmental testing (ambient air quality, stack emissions, soil)
Our five NABL-accredited facilities operate with standardised quality systems, centralised calibration management, and a unified quality manual that ensures consistent results regardless of which facility performs your test.
When choosing a testing laboratory for regulatory submissions or quality assurance, accreditation status should be your first filter. The question to ask any prospective lab is not just “are you NABL-accredited?” but “is this specific test method within your NABL scope?” The distinction matters — a lab may be accredited for some tests but not the one you need.
For pharmaceutical testing, food testing, or water testing requirements, Auriga Research’s accreditation certificates and scope lists are available on request. Contact our team to verify scope coverage for your specific testing needs.
Auriga Research Team
Auriga Research is India's largest NABL-accredited testing network with laboratories in Delhi, Manesar, Bangalore, Baddi, and Bahadurgarh. Our team of scientists delivers accurate, regulatory-accepted results across pharmaceutical, food, water, environmental, and specialised testing.
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