Accreditation as a barrier to entry

ISO/IEC 17025 for testing and calibration laboratories and ISO/IEC 17020 for inspection bodies do not simply certify that an organisation exists. They assess competence for specific methods, on specific equipment, performed by named personnel, under documented conditions.

That is why accreditation is granted by scope. A laboratory is not 'accredited' in the abstract; it is accredited to perform particular determinations to particular standards.

Expanding scope is one of the most reliable growth levers available to an established laboratory: the client base, the facility and much of the equipment already exist, and each new accredited method opens work that previously had to be declined or subcontracted.

It is also why acquiring an accredited business is not equivalent to building one. Method validation, proficiency testing history, calibration records and trained analysts cannot be purchased separately from the organisation that developed them.