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After two years of groundwork, the accreditation of the Fogra card testing laboratory was successfully passed in 1996. The standard at that time was DIN EN 45001 and the accrediting body was the German Accreditation Council (DAR), which was merged into the German Accreditation Body (DAkkS) on 1 January 2010.
At that time laboratory space and accreditation range were not large:
- 5 Fogra employees
- 22 accredited standards
- 27 accredited examinations
- 40 m2 Laboratory area
- 107 Pages Quality Management Handbook
Since then, our quality management has been subject to a continuous improvement process. In the meantime we have been accredited for almost 25 years, have passed the 5th re-audit and 15 surveillance audits.
In the meantime, our quality management has been accredited according to ISO 17025 and has significantly increased both in range and laboratory space.
- 10 Fogra employees
- 52 accredited standards
- More than 150 accredited examinations
- 260 m2 Laboratory area
- 8 Quality management folder
Accreditation is no longer bound to individual standards but is accepted as flexible accreditation of levels I to III. The laboratory can accredit standardised or equivalent test procedures and also its own test methods within the test areas defined in the certificate by itself.
International standardization
Fogra also protects and supports the interests of its members within the international standardisation process. It is represented in numerous standardisation committees for this purpose.
In the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO), for example, two Fogra employees lead working groups of the TC 130 Graphic Technology Technical Committee.
Arne Müller, head of the Security Applications Department, is active in ISO/DIN committees, e.g. in the international working group for physical testing of chip cards and for passport tests. As the new editor, he will be responsible for the ISO/IEC 10373-1 standard from 2021.
