The mandatory items in clause 7.8.2.1
Clause 7.8.2.1 lists sixteen items (a to p) that every report must include unless the laboratory has a valid reason for leaving one out. The table summarizes them, each with the point where reports most often fall short in practice.
| Mandatory item | What matters |
|---|---|
| a) Title | For example “Test Report”. Sounds trivial, but it is surprisingly often missing from documents assembled from templates. |
| b) Laboratory name and address | The address of the legal entity, not just a logo. |
| c) Location of the work | Important when testing took place at the customer's site, a remote location or in a mobile facility. |
| d) Unique identification | A unique report number on every page and a clear marker for the end — for example “page 3 of 12” and “end of report”. |
| e) Customer | The customer's name and contact information. |
| f) Method | The standard or in-house method including its edition, not just “as specified by customer”. |
| g) Item tested | Description, unambiguous identification (such as serial or part number) and, where necessary, its condition on receipt. |
| h) Date of receipt or sampling | Where this is critical to the validity and application of the results. |
| i) Date of testing | The period the work was actually performed, not the planned slot. |
| j) Date of issue | The date the report was released. |
| k) Sampling | Reference to the sampling plan and method where relevant to the validity or application of the results. |
| l) Scope of the results | A statement that the results relate only to the items tested (or as received). |
| m) Results | With units of measurement, where appropriate. |
| n) Deviations | Additions to, deviations from or exclusions from the method — the item assessors deliberately cross-check against the raw data. |
| o) Authorization | Identification of the person(s) authorizing the report. |
| p) External results | Clear identification of which results come from external providers. |
In addition, clause 7.8.2.2 requires information supplied by the customer to be clearly identified — together with a disclaimer that the laboratory is not responsible for it where it can affect the validity of the results.
What a test report additionally needs (7.8.3)
For test reports — as opposed to calibration certificates — further information is required where it is needed to interpret the results:
- Test conditions, for example environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity where they affect the result.
- A statement of conformity with requirements or specifications, where relevant (details below).
- The measurement uncertainty, in the same unit as the result or relative to it — when it is relevant to the validity or application of the results, when the customer asks for it, or when it affects conformity with a specification limit.
- Opinions and interpretations, where appropriate.
- Additional information required by specific methods, authorities, customers or groups of customers.
Where the laboratory performs the sampling itself, clause 7.8.3.2 adds the date of sampling, unique identification of the sample, its location, a reference to the sampling plan and method, relevant environmental conditions and the information needed to evaluate the measurement uncertainty of subsequent testing.
Statements of conformity and decision rules
“Pass” or “within limits” is a statement of conformity, and clause 7.8.6 sets its own requirements for it. The report must make clear:
- which results the statement of conformity applies to,
- which specifications, standards or parts thereof are met or not met,
- which decision rule was applied — unless it is already inherent in the requested specification or standard.
The decision rule describes how measurement uncertainty is accounted for when a result lies close to a limit: for example whether a value just below the limit counts as a pass even though its uncertainty interval crosses the limit (simple acceptance), or whether a guard band is applied. Under clause 7.1.3 the rule must be agreed with the customer during contract review. ILAC-G8 describes the common approaches. A report with a “pass” stamp but no identifiable decision rule has been one of the most frequent assessment findings since the 2017 revision.
Amending an issued report (7.8.8)
An issued report is never silently overwritten. When it has to be changed, amended or re-issued:
- 1
Identify the change clearly
Changed information is clearly marked and, where appropriate, the reason for the change is included.
- 2
Issue it as an amendment or a new report
Changes after issue are made only as a further document or data transfer with a statement such as “Amendment to Test Report serial number …” — and must meet all requirements of the standard.
- 3
Reference the original in a replacement report
When a completely new report is issued, it gets its own unique identification and references the original it replaces.
- 4
Keep the original
The original version is retained as a record. Laboratories that keep reports as Word files on a shared drive and simply re-save them after a correction lose exactly this evidence.
Simplified reports for internal customers
Clause 7.8.1.3 allows simplified reporting when agreed with the customer — typical for in-house labs and development test departments whose customer sits in the same company. Simplified does not mean omitted, though: all information from 7.8.2 to 7.8.7 that is not in the report must be readily available in the laboratory. The mandatory items do not disappear; they move into the data behind the report — and that data has to be just as complete in an assessment.
Common assessment findings
- 1
Page numbers without a total
“Page 3” instead of “page 3 of 12” and no end-of-report marker — so there is no way to show the report is complete.
- 2
Method without an edition
The report names the standard but not its version. If the standard has changed since, it is no longer traceable what the test was performed against.
- 3
Deviations in the lab notebook, not in the report
A shortened test duration or a replaced test step is documented in the raw data but missing from the report. This is exactly what assessors compare.
- 4
Equipment not traceable
Neither the report nor the linked records show which instrument was used and whether it was validly calibrated at the time.
- 5
Correction by overwriting
A typo is fixed in the file and the report is re-sent with the same number. Formally there are now two different documents with the same identification.
Reports built from data, not from templates
Most findings don't happen because the lab doesn't know the requirements, but because the report is assembled by hand from data spread across different places: the item in one list, measurements in CSV files, instruments in the calibration spreadsheet, deviations in emails. Every manual copy step is an opportunity for a gap.
- Mandatory items come from master data, not free text — so they can't go missing.
- Every page carries the unique report ID.
- The equipment used is listed with its calibration status next to each test step.
- A correction creates a new version that references the superseded one and states the reason for the amendment; the previous one is kept as evidence.
- Test method, measurement uncertainty, decision rule, test conditions and date of receipt come from recorded data — not from a template.
- Approval is electronic, with name and date stamped into the PDF; an approved report can no longer be deleted and only then becomes visible to the customer.
- Interim reports are labeled as such and can't be confused with the final report.
- A completeness check before generation flags missing measurements or verdicts.
That is how TestLabIQ produces reports: as versioned PDF documents generated directly from the item under test, the test sequence, measurement data and equipment history — with the mandatory content of clause 7.8, the agreed decision rule applied in the evaluation itself, and electronic approval. The help page on reports describes the details; whether it fits your report format is quickest to answer in a demo.