31. 5. 2018
and based on a request dated 21 May 2018 for the provision of information pursuant to Act No. 106/1999 Coll., requesting answers to 14 questions in relation to accreditation in the field of handwriting analysis and the content of a specific output document accredited by Testing laboratories, CAI provided the applicant with answers on the following content, thereby complying with the request for information.
The Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic holds the accreditation granted to it for its testing laboratory No. 1494, Criminalistic Institute Prague of the Police of the Czech Republic (KÚP PČR), within the scope of forensic testing defined in the annex to the accreditation certificate No. 425/2017 of 18 July 2017. This annex is published in the list of accredited conformity assessment bodies, which is publicly accessible on the CAI website. By consulting this annex, it can be verified that the scope of accreditation includes the test "Examination of handwriting - texts KÚP-SOP-25 forensic material" under serial number 4. By consulting the same document, it can be verified that its content - and therefore the scope of the accreditation granted - does not include the test according to the test method "KUP-SOP-27".
CAI accredits conformity assessment bodies in accordance with Section 15 et seq. of Act No. 22/1997 Coll., on technical requirements for products, as amended. CAI does not accredit fields, methods or procedures. CAI has not accredited the field of handwriting analysis.
CAI has not accredited the method - procedure KUP-SOP-25. As far as CAI is aware, accredited testing laboratory No. 1494 performs the tests included in the scope of the granted accreditation by professionally qualified personnel in accordance with its internal procedures.
CAI has not accredited the method - procedure KUP-SOP-27. The test bearing this identification is not included in the scope of accreditation granted to testing laboratory No. 1494.
CAI has not accredited the method – forensic expert review reports, regarding the identification of the writer. The test bearing this identification is not included in the scope of accreditation granted to testing laboratory No. 1494.
CAI does not accredit fields, methods or procedures, but rather accredits conformity assessment bodies. Accreditation is granted to a body that demonstrates that it meets the requirements for carrying out a specific conformity assessment activity, which are set out in harmonised standards or other documents valid for the given area of conformity assessment (so-called accreditation requirements). Accreditation is evidence of the professional competence of the body to carry out the activities listed in the annex to the accreditation certificate in accordance with the accreditation requirements. KUP-SOP test methods are Testing laboratories procedures that CAI does not accredit or approve.
An accredited conformity assessment body is entitled to use the accreditation mark on all its output documents issued within the scope of the granted accreditation. If the output document contains, in addition to the activities included within the scope of the granted accreditation, other activities of the entity that are not within the scope of the accreditation, then these must be clearly separated in the text. Compliance with this procedure is also indicated by the formulation of the definition of the methods, procedures and means used, where it is stated that the "accredited" method KÚP-SOP-25 was used for the examination, as well as the test method KUP-SOP-27, which is stated in the next sentence and without reference to accreditation.
The statement "The laboratory provides expert opinions and interpretations of test results." in the annex to the accreditation certificate only indicates that the laboratory is authorized to provide expert opinions and interpretations of test results as an accredited conformity assessment body.
CAI has not accredited "handwriting procedures and methods", nor is it responsible for assessing the reviewability of expert opinions. The accreditation body is only concerned with the fulfilment of accreditation requirements by conformity assessment bodies that are seeking or hold accreditation.
The persons authorized to sign output documents of accredited Testing laboratories are competent persons who are authorized to do so in accordance with the internal regulations of the accredited conformity assessment body.
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