CBD testing laboratory: checking an accreditation

European Regulation (EC) no. 765/2008 laid down the framework: each member state designates a single national accreditation body, and accreditation is carried out there as a public authority activity, with no competition between bodies. France designated the Comité français d'accréditation by décret no. 2008-1401 of 19 December 2008, made under article 137 of the loi du 4 août 2008 de modernisation de l'économie (the economic modernisation act).

For testing laboratories, the standard applied is NF EN ISO/IEC 17025, in its 2017 version on the certificates currently in force. It covers the laboratory's technical competence in a defined field and its management system. Cofrac is also a signatory of the multilateral agreement of the European co-operation for Accreditation, which means accreditations awarded are recognised between signatory countries.

In practice, certificates from the Laboratories section carry a number prefixed with 1, followed by an identifier and a revision number: 1-5810 rev. 14, for instance. Each revision cancels and replaces the previous one. The documents are published as PDFs on the Cofrac site, and can be consulted without an account.

An accreditation comes in two inseparable parts. The first, the certificate, fits on a page: it names the body, its SIREN company number, the address of the site concerned and the broad fields covered. The second, the technical annex, is the scope proper. Cofrac states that the certificate is valid only together with that annex, and that both scope and validity must be checked on its own site: an accreditation can be suspended, amended or withdrawn at any time.

The technical annex is divided by technical unit, then by field, then into lines with four columns:

• Item: the matrix analysed, for example hemp plant matrices, an oil, a cosmetic product.
• Characteristic measured or sought: what is quantified, molecule by molecule.
• Principle of the method: the preparation and the measurement technique, for example a cold solid-liquid extraction followed by HPLC-DAD analysis.
• Method reference: the standard applied, or the laboratory's internal reference where an in-house validated method is used.

Two dates close the annex: the date it takes effect and the date it expires. A test report issued outside that window is not covered by the accreditation quoted. That is the first check to make, and the one most often skipped.

To show what reading brings, here are two certificates opened in full on 16 September 2026, with their number and their scope. Neither was chosen for any ranking: they serve as a demonstration.

The reading is instructive in both directions. LABEXAN does carry a cannabinoid assay line, under a fixed scope, with six molecules named on hemp plant matrices and five on hemp oil: CBG and CBC do not appear on the oil line. Nothing in that scope, on the other hand, covers terpenes, heavy metals or pesticide residues on hemp.

ALBHADES PROVENCE is a laboratory accredited to the same standard, with a far broader scope in number of lines, spread across three technical units. It contains no cannabinoid assay line at all. An "ISO 17025 accredited" banner backed by that certificate would be accurate, and unrelated to any CBD assay.

Every block of the annex carries an entry setting the laboratory's latitude on methods. Four cases occur.

Fixed scope. The laboratory applies the methods quoted strictly, with no technical change to the procedure. That is the regime of the LABEXAN cannabinoid line: the internal method IOP-PCH-92 is named, and it alone.

FLEX1. The laboratory remains competent for the referenced methods and for their later revisions. A standard moving to a new edition does not take the test out of the scope.

FLEX2. The laboratory may adopt any recognised method within the field covered by a general scope. The exhaustive list of methods offered under accreditation is then not in the annex: it is made available by the laboratory, and has to be asked for.

FLEX3. Within the field of the general scope, the laboratory may adopt any recognised method and develop or implement a method it has validated itself. It is the most open regime, and the one that makes the general scope the most important to read, since that is what bounds the field.

The practical consequence is simple: under a fixed scope or FLEX1, the annex is enough to know whether a test is covered. Under FLEX2 or FLEX3, the annex gives the field and the detailed list has to be requested.

An accreditation attests a laboratory's competence for a named test. It says nothing about the compliance of the product analysed, which is read on the report, and it does not cover tests absent from the scope, even when they are carried out within the same laboratory's walls. A report may in fact mix covered results with results outside the accreditation: it then has to say so, and that statement is worth looking for.

Nor does it replace the product's legal framework. In France, the arrêté du 30 décembre 2021 (French ministerial order) reserves the sector to varieties of Cannabis sativa L. listed in the common catalogue or the French catalogue, with a Δ⁹-THC content no higher than 0.30 %, and applies the same threshold to extracts and to the products that incorporate them. The Conseil d'État (France's supreme administrative court), in its decision of 29 December 2022 (no. 444887), annulled the ban on selling raw flowers. The detail of that threshold is set out in the article on the legal THC level in France.

On the buyer's side, the useful check comes down to four moves: note the exact name of the laboratory on the report, open its certificate on the Cofrac site, check the dates, then look for the line matching the test you are reading. Our internal batch-checking procedure is described on our laboratory, and the analyses per reference appear on the product pages in the CBD flowers category. The most frequent reading questions are gathered in the frequently asked questions.

• Cofrac, accreditation certificate no. 1-5810 rev. 14, LABEXAN (technical annex, cannabinoid assay)
• Cofrac, accreditation certificate no. 1-1322 rev. 25, ALBHADES PROVENCE (technical annex, three technical units)
• Cofrac, official site (accreditation search, documentation)
• Cofrac, LAB REF 05 documentation (requirements applicable to laboratories)
• Regulation (EC) no. 765/2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation
• Décret no. 2008-1401 of 19 December 2008 on accreditation
• ISO/IEC 17025, general requirements for the competence of laboratories
• Légifrance, arrêté du 30 décembre 2021 (article 1, I and III)
• Conseil d'État, decision of 29 December 2022, no. 444887
• Phytogrammes, "Certificat d'analyse CBD : comment lire un COA"