Eurachem Newsletter No 12 Summer 1997

News from all over Europe (8 items)

Eurachem News

  1. EURACHEM-Luxembourg: Participants Required for Freon Study
  2. Cyprus: Food Scientists talk Quality
  3. EURACHEM-Malta holds its first meeting
  4. Accreditation In Hungary
  5. EURACHEM-Slovakia: Analyses for Geology & Environment ‘97
  6. EURACHEM-PL: Co-operation Continues
  7. EURACHEM-CZ EURACHEM Guides now available in Czech
  8. EURACHEM-Hellas (Greece) EURACHEM-Hellas is born
  9. 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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Last updated on 02.02.1997 By Eurachem WebMaster