What is a Certified or Standard Reference Material?

Here’s a guideline as to the meaning and definitions:

CERTIFIED REFERENCE MATERIAL (CRM): Reference material, accompanied by a certificate, one or more of whose property values are certified by a procedure which establishes its traceability to an accurate realization of the unit in which the property values are expressed, and for which each certified value is accompanied by an uncertainty at a stated level of confidence. The CRMs are certified by a recognized certifying organization using approved certification procedures as instructed in ISO Guide 35:1989 “Certification of reference materials – General and statistical principles.” The organization is usually a function of a federal government or recognized by a federal government or an accreditation organization. A CRM is the highest level to which an analytical reference material can be elevated because it is directly traceable to SI units and because of the attributed confidence in the company or organization which produced the material. Materials produced by national metrological laboratories (NML) such as NIST and ECRM are automatically CRM by default authority, it should be noted that often these NML certificates do not comply with modern expectations, but they remain CRM by default authority.
REFERENCE MATERIAL (RM): A material substance one or more of whose property values are sufficiently homogeneous and well established to be used for the calibration of an apparatus, the assessment of a measurement method, or for assigning values to materials. The RMs usually have been through interlaboratory testing using many analysts and supplied with a certificate of analysis but do not strictly follow the procedures of certification as indicated in ISO Guide 35:1989.
SETTING-UP SAMPLES (SUS): Materials which have an uncertified analysis to be used as a guide. These materials are assigned values for each element during calibration of the instrument with CRMs and RMs. These assigned values are used for day-to-day or shift-to-shift adjustment of the instrument. This process is often called “drift correction”, “standardization of the calibration”, or “re-standardization”. Users are advised to obtain a reasonably long term supply of each SUS to avoid having to recalibrate the instrument when the current SUS supply is exhausted.

CSI Labshop Malaysia provides solutions to your lab for all your calibration, testing, and research.  We stock the finest reference materials for your laboratory.

Our list source reference materials you can obtain from


Standards Reference Material Providers and Standards Bodies

Code Producer
11X to 514X MBH ANALYTICAL LTD., ENGLAND
50x – xxx LECO, USA
58A WELL GROUP, CHINA
AA ARCONIC (formerly Alcoa,) USA
ACIRS AUSTRALIAN COAL PREPARATION SOCIETY, AUSTRALIA
AE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, AUSTRIA
AJ NIKKEI, JAPAN
AL SUISSE TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS, SWITZERLAND
ALC ALCAN, CANADA
AN ANALYTICA LTD., CZECH REPUBLIC
AMIS AFRICAN MINERAL STANDARDS, SOUTH AFRICA
ASCRM, ASRM STANDARDS AUSTRALIA
ASMW AMT FUR STANDARDISIERUNG, MESSWESEN UND WARENPRUFUNG, GERMANY
ASO ASO DESIGN, CANADA
BAM, ERM BUNDESANSTALT FUR MATERIALFORSCHUNG UND-PRUFUNG, THE FEDERAL AGENCY FOR MATERIAL TESTING, GERMANY
BAS, CURM BUREAU OF ANALYSED SAMPLES LTD., ENGLAND
BCR, IRMM COMMUNITY BUREAU OF REFERENCE, BELGIUM
BCS BUREAU OF ANALYSED SAMPLES LTD., ENGLAND
BGIRA THE BRITISH GLASS INDUSTRY RESEARCH ASSOCIATION, ENGLAND
BL ASNSTAND, CZECH REPUBLIC
BM, RH JOINT-STOCK COMPANY, “METAL AND QUALITY,” UKRAINE
BR BREITLANDER GMBH, GERMANY
BS BRAMMER STANDARD COMPANY, INC., USA
C (solids) BNF-FULMER, ENGLAND supplied by BAS
C (chips) MBH ANALYTICAL LTD., ENGLAND
C (setups), R SUS, GERMANY
CAN CANADA CENTRE FOR MINERAL AND ENERGY TECHNOLOGY ENERGY, MINES AND RESOURCES, CANADA
CCRL CEMENT AND CONCRETE REFERENCE LABORATORY, USA
CERAM LUCIDION, ENGLAND
CDN CDN RESOURCE LABORATORIES LTD., CANADA
CETEM CENTRO DE TECNOLOGIA MINERAL, BRASIL
CGL, USZ CENTRAL GEOLOGICAL LABORATORY, MONGOLIA
CIBA CIBA-GEIGY, SWITZERLAND
CKD CKD PRAHA, CZECH REPUBLIC
CMSI CHINA METALLURGICAL STANDARDIZATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE
COCO COAL CONCEPTS, SOUTH AFRICA
CRM SUS, GERMANY
CT CARPENTER TECHNOLOGY, USA
CTIF CENTRE TECHNIQUE DES INDUSTRIES DE LA FONDERIE FOUNDRY INDUSTRY TECHNICAL CENTER, FRANCE
CZ CZECH METROLOGY INSTITUTE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA
DH DILLINGER LABORATORY, GERMANY
DK KALKSEINMEHLSTANDARDS, GERMANY
DOMTAR DOMTAR INC., CANADA
DSZU, MHCX INSTITUTE OF TITANIUM, UKRAINE
ECRM EURO-CERTIFIED REFERENCE MATERIALS Prepared by BAS, BAM, IRSID, and CTIF
FLX FLUXANA, GERMANY
FQZ HRT, GERMANY
G GEOSTATS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA
GBW STATE BUREAU OF TECHNICAL SUPERVISION, CHINA
GSO, OSO STANDARD SAMPLES OFFICE, UKRAINE
GUW GUW (ZGI), GERMANY
HH, HT INCO ALLOYS INTERNATIONAL, USA
HRT HRT LABORTECHNIK GMBH, GERMANY
IARM ANALYTICAL REFERENCE MATERIALS, UNITED STATES
IGS INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES, ENGLAND
IMI WOLVERHAMPTON METAL, ENGLAND
IMN INSTITUTE OF NON-FERROUS METALS, POLAND
IMZ INSTITUTE OF FERROUS METALLURGY, POLAND
IPT INSTITUTO DE PESQUISAS TECHNOLOGICAS DO ESTADO DE SAO PAULO, BRASIL
IRNT INSTITUTE OF RADIOECOLOGY & APPLIED NUCLEAR TECHNIQUES, CZECH REPUBLIC
IRSID INSTITUT DE RECHERCHES DE LA SIDERURGIE FRANCAISE RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF IRON AND STEEL WORKS INDUSTRY, FRANCE
J GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF JAPAN
JCA JAPAN CEMENT ASSOCIATION
JCRM CERAMIC SOCIETY OF JAPAN
JK JERKONTORTERETS, SWEDEN
JRRM TECHNICAL ASSOCIATION OF REFRACTORIES, JAPAN
JSM JFE TECHNO-RESEARCH CORPORATION, JAPAN
JSS IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE OF JAPAN
KMS KMS CORPORATION LTD, JAPAN
KUT VASKUT, HUNGARY
KZ CENTROGEOANALIT LABORATORY, KAZAKHSTAN
L BNF-FULMER, ENGLAND, supplied by BAS
NCS, L (length) CENTRAL IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE, CHINA
NF ALPHA ASSEMBLY SOLUTIONS, USA
NH NEW METALLURGICAL WORKS, CZECH REPUBLIC
NIES NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, JAPAN
NILAB NORDISK INDUSTRILABORATORIUM, SWEDEN
NIOH NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, NORWAY
NM NATIONAL METALLURGICAL LABORATORY, INDIA
NMIJ NATIONAL METROLOGY INSTITUTE OF JAPAN, JAPAN
NRC NATIONAL RESOURCES COUNCIL CANADA
NX INCO ALLOYS INTERNATIONAL, USA
OREAS ORE RESEARCH AND EXPLORATION PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA
PB VUK PANENSKE BREZANY, CZECH REPUBLIC
PV, TL TECHLAB, FRANCE
PY SUISSE TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS, SWITZERLAND
RAN RAND REFINERY, SOUTH AFRICA
S THERMO SCIENTIFIC, SWITZERLAND
SABS SABS COAL EXPLORATION AND TECHNOLOGY SECTION, SOUTH AFRICA
SARM SOUTH AFRICAN BUREAU OF STANDARDS
SCAS SUMIKA CHEMEICAL ANALYSIS SERVICES, LTD., JAPAN
SCRM BUREAU OF ANALYSED SAMPLES LTD., ENGLAND
SGT SOCIETY FOR GLASS TECHNOLOGY, ENGLAND
SMO, SS (combustion) SEISHIN TRADING, JAPAN
SRM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY, UNITED STATES
SS (discs) BUREAU OF ANALYSED SAMPLES LTD., ENGLAND
ST SHIMADZU, JAPAN
SUS BUREAU OF ANALYSED SAMPLES LTD., ENGLAND
SV SVUS, CZECH REPUBLIC
TH THYSSENKRUPP STAHL, GERMANY
TL TECHLAB, FRANCE
UL LABORATOIRES ASSOCIES DE GEOLOGIE, BELGIUM
UNS INSTITUTE OF MINERAL RAW MATERIALS, CZECH REPUBLIC
US UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SERVICE, USA
USZ, CGL CENTRAL GEOLOGICAL LABORATORY, MONGOLIA
V HYDRO (VAW), GERMANY
VB VUSH, CZECH REPUBLIC
VC VAC, GERMANY
VS ASSOCIATION OF REFERENCE MATERIALS PRODUCERS, USSR
VS# VANGUARD SOLUTIONS, USA
Y GSB, YSBS, & SHIJIAZHUANG TRUMP SCIENTIFIC LTD, CHINA