Hebei Becomes 10th ICA-Bremen Certified Laboratory

The Cotton Testing Laboratory at the Technical Center of Hebei Entry-Exit Inspection & Quarantine Bureau (Hebei) is the latest laboratory to be certified under the ICA Bremen ‘International Laboratory Certification Scheme’. Hebei has become the tenth organisation to be certified as a ‘laboratory of choice’ to resolve disputes in line with ICA Bylaws & Rules.

The ICA-Bremen certified laboratories have the aim of establishing an approved list of laboratories worldwide that meet a standard level of quality assurance.

“We will take the certification as an opportunity to regulate our work strictly in accordance with the certification requirements, to further enhance the laboratory standard and capacity and to provide high quality services for the domestic and international cotton trade,” Hebei’s laboratory manager Lian Sumei said.

ICA Bremen has developed the scheme based on American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and Commercial Standardization of Instrument Testing of Cotton (CSITC), as well as building on the good practices of US department of agriculture and its own laboratory experience.

Open to any international cotton testing laboratory, participating laboratories must meet a level of quality assurance based on specific criteria in eight modules, including conditioning, maintenance, calibration and testing procedures.

There are 12 other laboratories that are currently in the process of assessment by ICA-Bremen.