Reference Standards and certified reference materials have an assigned value by direct comparison with a reference base.

Working standards and certified reference materials used in industry have a traceable relationship to the secondary and primary standards.

The concentration of a sample can be determined through calibration with certified reference material such as single or multi-element reference standards.

After about 30 years of informal use as a standard in high heat (1000 degrees Celsius) applications, Pyroceram 9606 was approved as a certified reference material.

For example, the National Institute for Standards and Technology uses a Fizeau double-beam interferometer to certify the thermal expansion of their certified reference materials.

This exact process is repeated for each of the standards used until transfer standards, certified reference materials and/or natural physical constants, the measurement standards with the least uncertainty in the laboratory, are reached.

Diagnostic or laboratory reagents on a backing, prepared diagnostic or laboratory reagents, whether or not on a backing, other than those of heading 3002 or 3006, certified reference materials.

Often, the determinand is such that there is no appropriate certified reference material - for example metal complexation by natural ligands or adsorbed or exchangeable pesticides - and artificial surrogates are insufficiently realistic.

Establishing traceability is accomplished by a formal comparison to a standard which is directly or indirectly related to national standards ( such as NIST in the USA), international standards, or certified reference materials.

European Reference Materials or ERM are certified reference materials of high quality and reliability produced by members of the European Reference Materials consortium in the European Union .

In February 2009, the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) released two certified reference materials (CRMs) to help analytical laboratories better detect these two classes of flame retardants.

Cerilliant Corporation, located in Round Rock, Texas, is a manufacturer of certified reference standards and certified reference materials providing products and services to forensic / toxicology, diagnostic/clinical, environmental, natural products, and pharmaceutical industries.

Ebdon is a member of the DTI's Measurement Advisory committee and Chair of a Sub Committee, and he is also a member of the European Union DGXII Certification Working Group, known particularly for his expertise on environmental certified reference materials.