Eurachem
Newsletter No
12 |
Summer
1997 |
News from all over Europe (8 items)
Eurachem
News
- EURACHEM-Luxembourg: Participants Required
for Freon Study
- Cyprus: Food Scientists talk Quality
- EURACHEM-Malta holds
its first meeting
- Accreditation In Hungary
- EURACHEM-Slovakia: Analyses for Geology &
Environment ‘97
- EURACHEM-PL: Co-operation Continues
- EURACHEM-CZ EURACHEM Guides now available
in Czech
- EURACHEM-Hellas (Greece) EURACHEM-Hellas is
born
- OOPS!
EURACHEM-Luxembourg
Participants Required for
Freon Study
Development of a new Standardised
“Hydrocarbon Index” Method for Oil-in-Water.
Freon, also known as CFC 113, has been the solvent
used for extracting water for oil-in-water analyses. Because of its ozone-depleting
properties, this solvent is to be phased out, according to the Montreal
Protocol. Therefore, a new method is required urgently.
A two-year project was launched in November 1996
with the invlovement of 3 partners; SINTEF Applied Chemistry in Norway
(lead partner), Universite de Liege in Belgium and Luxcontrol S.A. In addition
to funding from the European Commission, the project is supported by the
Norwegian State Pollution Control Authorities (SFT) and the Swedish Environmental
Protection Board (SNV).
A new method will replace the current national
standards in use today. It should be applicable to samples of effluent
water offshore and on, as well as drinking, gound and surface water. methods
will then be chosen for further testing and refinement. Afterwards, these
methods will be compared using a pre-defined validation protocol, set up
to cover the normal use of the old national Standard freon/lR method.
Luxcontrol is presently looking for participants
to evaluate recommended methods in round-robin studies. Based on these
studies, final recommendations for a new method will be given.
Laboratories interested in participating
in these round-robin studies should contact
Dr M Chtaib
Luxcontrol S.A., Box 349
L-4004 ESCH-SUR ALZETTE
LUXEMBOURG
Tel + 352 54 77111 Fax + 352 54 79 30
E-mai chaibmo@pt.lu
Project WWW home page:- http://www.oslo.sintef.no/chem/6640/stoiw.htm Dr
Marc Lemmer EURACHEM-Luxembourg
Cyprus
Food Scientists talk Quality
Quality Assurance in the Food Industry
A training course on “Quality Assurance in the Food Industry” was organised
by PUC in March this year. High level scientific personnel from various
food industries attended. Emphasis was given to the operation of analytical
and microbiological laboratories, quality assurance in testing and the
accreditation of laboratories.
Accreditation of Laboratories
A series of one-day seminars on the Accreditation of Laboratories was
recently organised by the Cyprus Organisation for Standards and Control
of Quality (CYS). These seminars studied the provisions of the EN45000
series of standards, in connection with the revision of ISO/ISC Guide 25.
Dr Kyriacos Tsimillis
Pancyprian Union of Chemists
EURACHEM-Malta
EURACHEM-Malta holds its first meeting
About 50 Participants from various Government
laboratories, as well as private industry, attended the University of Malta
for a short course conducted by Dr Bernard King (LGC, UK), on Laboratory
QA and Accreditation, in May this year. This was part of a 4-day programme
to mark the launching of EURACHEM-Malta.
EURACHEM-Malta itself was launched on May 8, during
a seminar entitled “Current Practice in Laboratory QA in Malta”. After
an opening address from the Maltese Minister for Economic Affairs, Dr John
Attard Montalto, speakers from Maltese industries presented papers on their
respective laboratory’s QA programmes.
Afterwards, EURACHEM-Malta delegate, Dr George
Peplow, outlined EURACHEM’s mission and objectives along with EURACHEM-Malta’s
immediate programme, including an interlaboratory collaboration exercise
on a water sample. Initial priorities for EURACHEM Malta will include education
and training programmes on laboratory QA, especially for small laboratories.
EURACHEM Malta will operate from the University
of Malta in Msida.
Dr George Peplow
EURACHEM-Malta
Eurachem News
EURACHEM-Hungary
Accreditation In Hungary
In Hungary, accreditation activities started in 1988, with the recognition
of testing laboratories, and the Hungarian Office for Standardisation assigned
to develop and operate a national accreditation and certification system.
Between 1988 and 1990, accreditation was based upon ISO/IEC Guidlines.
However, since 1990, accreditation has been based on the EN 45000 series.
April 1995 saw the establishment of a single, independent national accreditation
body, the Hungarian accreditation Board (NAT). NAT is a non-profit public
organisation, legally supervised by the Hungarian Ministry of Industry
and Trade. It is divided into several Sectional Accreditation Committees
which define accreditation criteria within their area. They also advise
the Accreditation Office regarding the selection of assessors and make
proposals for accreditation. These committees, cover areas including Environment,
Food and Agriculture, Mining and Metallurgy, employee health and safety.
There is also a Sectional Accreditation Committee for certification and
accreditation bodies themselves.
The Accreditation Office operates the Hungarian Accreditation Scheme
and provides the secretariat function to all bodies in NAT. The Office
is also responsible for international co-operation as well as internal
and external training in the field of accreditation.
The Main tasks of NAT are:
- The assessment and surveillance of laboratories, certification and
inspection bodies.
- Training and registration of accreditation assessors,
- Representing Hungary in international and European accreditation organisations,
- Reaching bilateral and multilateral co-operation and mutual recognition
agreements.
Accreditation is voluntary and open to any laboratory, certification
and inspection body that undertakes objective testing and meets the required
criteria of competence. Assessment is carried out by external assessors.
Accreditation certificates, valid for 3 years, are issued by the Director
of NAT, based on the proposals from the relevant sectional accreditation
committee.
NAT closely co-operates with ministries and national authorities. By
law, it is involved in the preparation of regulations for mandatory testing
and certification in Hungary. Employees regularly give lectures on accreditation
at universities as well as national and international conferences. NAT
participates at ILAC and IAF meetings and has applied for EAL and EAC associate
membership. It has also begun to co-operate with other Western European
national accreditation bodies such as UKAS/NAMAS, COFRAC, DAR, SAS and
SWEDAC, in the field of assessor training and joint accreditation
Prof József Hlavay
EURACHEM Hungary
Forthcoming Event from EURACHEM-Slovakia
Analyses for Geology & Environment
‘97
September 30 - October 3, 1997: Spišská Nová Ves, SLOVAKIA
With an emphasis on geological and environmental analysis, this international
conference will cover:-
- Recent developments in sampling and sample preparation techniques
- Determination and speciation of inorganic and organic components
- Evaluation and interpretation of analytical data
Quality assurance and control of analytical works will also be included
in the programme
For further information, Please contact:
Dr Hana Mjartanová
Geological Survey of the Slovak Republic Markušovská cesta
1 05240 SPIŠSKÁ NOVÁ VES, SLOVAKIA
Fax + 421 965 426096
EURACHEM-PL
Co-operation Continues between AOAC International
& EURACHEM in Central Europe
The main event for EURACHEM-PL in 1996 was the International Symposium
on Development in ChemicaI Analysis of Environmental Samples at the Edge
of the 21st Century; organised jointly with the AOAC International Central
Europe Subsection. Held in Warsaw, this Symposium was regarded as a good
example of the regional co-operation between AOAC and EURACHEM in Central
and Eastern Europe, which has continued since their joint symposium in
Slovakia, in 1995.
About ninety participants from 11 countries took part in the Warsaw
Symposium. The programme comprised 11 plenary lectures and 3 short presentations.
The following lectures were presented by the EURACHEM Committee members
- Maire C. Walsh (EURACHEM Chair, State Laboratory, Dublin Ireland) “General
review on the activities of EURACHEM and its strategy for the future”
- Paul De Bievre (IRMM, Geel, Belgium) “Traceability of reference measurements
and reference materials: from ignoring to realising a chemist’s view.”
- Margaret Lauwaars (AOAC International) “Update on AOAC International.”
- Zbigniew Dobkowski (EURACHEM-PL, ICRI, Warsaw, Poland) “Contemporary
approach to quantifying uncertainty in analytical measurements.”
Other lectures were devoted to certification, accreditation and quality
assurance in relation to reference materials, inorganic trace analysis
and HPLC, as well as designing and operating collaborative studies.
Prof Dr Zbigniew Dobkowski
EURACHEM-PL
EURACHEM-CZ
EURACHEM Guides now available
in Czech
Czech versions of the EURACHEM guides, Quantifying Uncertainty in Analytical
Measurement and Accreditation for Laboratories Performing Microbiological
Testing, have now been published. As a result, all basic EURACHEM documents
are now available in the Czech language.
The third run of QA/QC courses for analytical laboratory Quality Managers,
organised by EURACHEM-CZ and The Czech Society for Quality ended in September
last year. This course, covered the standards required for EN 45013 certification.
EURACHEM-CZ has established its homepage on the WWW. The address is
http://www.iic.cas.cz. It contains details regarding EURACHEM-CZ, as well
as a list of documents available.
Dr Zbynek Plzak
EURACHEM-CZ
Eurachem News
EURACHEM-Hellas (Greece)
EURACHEM-Hellas is born
EURACHEM-Hellas was established 6 months ago, as a committee of the
Greek chemist association. Its main remit is the transfer of knowledge,
information and decisions from EURACHEM to its members, via Greece’s National
representative, Prof Miltiades Karayannis, University of Ioannina. EURACHEM-Hellas
is open to all scientists working in industry, academia, private laboratories
etc, interested in areas such as metrology, validation of analytical methods,
measurement uncertainty and participation in interlaboratory test comparisons.
In March this year, EURACHEM-Hellas, in associaton with the Association
of Greek Chemists and the General State Laboratory for Greece, was host
to a lecture by former EURACHEM Chair, Prof Dr Paul De Bièvre entitled,
“Traceability of ‘Amounts of Substance’ Measurements: EURACHEM, A Focus
for Analytical Chemistry in Europe”.
Future activities of EURACHEM-Hellas will be the establishment of a
national bank of reference materials, organisation of seminars on education
and training and the influence of the curricula of the Greek state Universities
regarding new subjects and ideas discussed among its members.
Prof Miltiades Karayannis
EURACHEM-Hellas
Eurachem News
OOPS!
EURACHEM Newsletter No 11 published a
list of “EURACHEM AoS projects on page 10. In fact, the projects listed
were EUROMET AoS projects.
The editor would like to apologise for this typographical error
and for any inconvenience it caused.
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