Since the introduction of the ISTA Quality Assurance Accreditation Programme for seed testing laboratories in the early 90s of the last century, the number of participating laboratories from the public and the private sector has increased continuously.

It is therefore our special pleasure to announce that recently the 100th seed testing laboratory has become ISTA accredited.

The aim of the ISTA Quality Assurance Accreditation Programme is to harmonise the performance of the ISTA accredited seed testing laboratories on a high level worldwide.

With the two pillars of the programme, the ISTA International Proficiency Test Programme and the ISTA International Audit Programme, ISTA can assure the trueness and reproducibility of test results on international level being an important precondition for a smooth international seed trade.

Recent studies show clearly that ISTA accredited laboratories have an evidently better performance in proficiency tests than non-ISTA accredited laboratories. This undoubtedly confirms us in our efforts.

Congratulations and best wishes go to all ISTA accredited laboratories, in particular to the NCVESC Seed Testing Laboratory in Hanoi, Vietnam, which became the 100th accredited laboratory of ISTA in June 2006.