ISO/IEC 17025:2017 states with respect to statement of conformity in clause 7.1.3 “When the customer requests a statement of conformity to a specification or standard for the test or calibration (e.g. pass/fail, in-tolerance/out-of-tolerance), the specification or standard and the decision rule shall be clearly defined. Unless inherent in the requested specification or standard, the decision rule selected shall be communicated to, and agreed with, the customer.” To this clause a note is added “For further guidance on statements of conformity, see ISO/IEC Guide 98-4”.
Question:
What does “shall be communicated to, and agreed with, the customer” exactly mean? Does it mean that a laboratory is free to develop a decision rule at its own discretion (e.g., develop its own procedure containing a decision rule) and offer it to the customer, or does it mean that a customer should be informed about statements on conformities set out in ISO/IEC Guide 98-4 and offer him an appropriate rule?
The decision rule shall be agreed by the parties, independently from who is proposing it; see also cl. 7 of ILAC G8.