Up until now the BPIF has required companies wishing to attain the ISO standard to get their spectrophotometers tested every year to laboratory standards, by a facility which must be accredited to ISO 17025.

However the federation has increasingly found that most manufactures do not have this accreditation, leaving spectrophotometer owners unable to get their machines passed.

BPIF consultancy services director Phil Pateman said the problem had been brought up in the last BPIF Colour Quality Scheme Steering Group.

“This has come up as a bit of an issue. We are getting so many queries from people trying to pass the audits that we felt it was best to remove this.

“If most manufacturers don’t have the ISO 17025 certification we are effectively saying that they [the spectrophotometer owners] can’t get the accreditation.”

However the BPIF is still keen to ensure consistent inter-instrument agreement  saying that “a common methodology for calibrating and validating spectrophotometers to an agreed open standard is needed for manufacturers and their customers including OEMs in order to meet the requirements of our industry”.

The ISO 12647 accreditation shows process control for the production of halftone colour separations, proof and production prints.

“It’s key for retailers demanding equal standards across their marketing material,” Pateman said.