The ‘soft’ sides of ISO17025.

Where accredited, the vast majority of forensic science laboratories, globally, are accredited to the ISO Standard ISO/IEC17025:2017 (ISO17025). The standard consists of diverse sections including Resource requirements and Process requirements which are afforded much attention. In our view, given significantly less attention are General and Structural requirements which address important issues that are critical, although often neglected, in the quality landscape, such as Impartiality, Confidentiality, Integrity, Culture and Improper influence. We highlight their importance in this article under the heading ‘soft’ clauses and suggest some preventive measures to be taken, as neglecting these aspects could be disastrous in many respects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]