Qualitative Analysis Working Group

Introduction

At the Eurachem/CITAC workshop Measurement uncertainty and traceability: meeting the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025  in Lucerne, June 2002, a workshop session was held on the topic of uncertainty in qualitative analysis and testing. That workshop recommended the formation of a new Eurachem working group to provide guidance on the topic, based on the discussion paper presented at that meeting. The following constitutes the Terms of Reference for the working group.

Terms of reference

Members*

• R Bettencourt da Silva (PT) (Chair)
• S Ellison (UK) (Secretary)
• A Botha (CITAC)
• H Emons (EU)
• D Ivanova (BG)
• R Kaus (DE)
• I Kuselman (CITAC) (Observer)
• S Lardy-Fontan (FR)
• O Levbarg (UA)
• I Leito (EE)
• K Matveinen (FI)
• O Pellegrino (PT)
• P Pereira (PT)
• P Saunders (IE)
• M Sega (IT)
• E Theodorsson (SE)
• A Togola (FR)
• E Totu (RO)
• W Wegscheider (AT)

 * Current members; last updated August 2022

Guidance documents

The working group published the Eurachem Guide "Assessment of performance and uncertainty in qualitative chemical analysis" in 2021.

Work programme

The Eurachem working group started working on uncertainty issues in qualitative analysis in response to early concerns about the implementation of measurement uncertainty under ISO 17025 accreditation. Eurachem published a policy paper on the subject in 2000 [1]. At the Eurachem/CITAC workshop Measurement uncertainty and traceability: meeting the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025  in Lucerne, June 2002, a workshop session was held on the topic. That workshop recommended the formation of a new Eurachem Qualitative Analysis Working Group  to provide guidance on the topic, based on a discussion paper presented at that meeting. The group met first in May 2003, and works in cooperation with CITAC. It is currently working on the topic of the assessment and expression of uncertainty in qualitative analysis and testing. The aim is to provide guidance on issues such as:

• The effort required to obtain sufficiently reliable false response rates (the most common basis for assessing the reliability of qualitative tests);
• methods of determining false response rates, including experimental methods, methods based on databases, and prediction of false response rates from the performance of quantitative methods used in the testing process;
• practical methods of expressing the performance of methods, including guidance on the wide range of different terminology in use.

[1] Ellison SLR, Accred. Qual. Assur. 2000, 5, 346-348

Past activities

• International workshop, "Assessment of Performance and Uncertainty in Qualitative Chemical Analysis", January 2022

Education and Training Working Group

Terms of Reference

1. The Eurachem Education and Training Working Group (ETWG) has been established and will operate in accordance with the Constitution agreed in the Eurachem Memorandum of Understanding.
2. The ETWG will attempt to have representatives from each of the Eurachem member countries either as Full Members or as Corresponding Members*.
3. The ETWG, in accordance with Eurachem policy on Establishment and Operation of Eurachem Working Groups, will appoint a Chair who will serve for a period of 3 years. A Vice-Chair/Secretary will also be appointed by the Working Group to serve for a period of 3 years. Both the Chair and Vice-Chair can be reappointed on completion of their term.
4. The ETWG will promote the concepts and importance of quality in analytical measurement with a particular focus on the development of guidance on quality management which emphasises metrology.
5. The ETWG will organise workshops and training events on metrology in chemistry and related quality assurance issues. Members will report on these activities at least annually.
6. In collaboration with the other Working Groups, the ETWG will regularly review and publish on the Eurachem website a Reading List of references relating to quality assurance for analytical science.
7. The ETWG will collaborate with other organisations having similar or complementary aims.
8. The ETWG will meet at least annually, usually at the General Assembly and review progress of projects against the work programme.

* Full members agree to attend meetings and carry out tasks agreed at the annual Working Group meeting

Corresponding members agree to comment on draft papers sent out to the Working Group

Members

*Corresponding member

Activities

Current

1. Collate and evaluate information on the state of education and training in analytical science in different member countries, with a particular focus on the development of teaching and training materials on quality management which emphasise metrology.

2. Engage with working analytical scientists, experts and other international organisations to contribute to the development of internationally harmonised terminology for analytical chemistry.

3. Contribute to the development and delivery of education and training in chemical metrology and quality assurance for both analytical scientists and the broader community by producing freely available materials. Current activities are:

• Development and maintenance of a reading list to support teaching and training of metrology in chemistry and quality assurance. Click here to access the reading list.
• Revision of the Eurachem/CITAC 'Guide to Quality in Analytical Chemistry: An aid to accreditation'

3. In collaboration with other WGs, prepare short videos for the Eurachem YouTube channel to address and explain challenging topics in the field of metrology in chemistry.

4. Organise workshops in metrology in chemistry which bring together academic staff, industrial scientists, instrument manufacturers and students.

• Training event: Recent developments in Quality Assurance (Nicosia, March 2024)

Specific projects in each area will be agreed at the Working Group meetings. Each work package will have a group of members identified in the Minutes to carry the project forward.

Past

• Publication of the 2nd edition of the Guide: Terminology in Analytical Measurement: Introduction to VIM 3
• Publication of an information leaflet on terminology
• Publication of an information leaflet on the revision of ISO/IEC 17025
• Training event on ISO 15189:2022 – The New Standard for the Competence of Medical Laboratories (Nicosia, March 2023)
• Training event on Accreditation of Analytical, Microbiological and Medical laboratories – ISO/IEC 17025:2017 & ISO 15189:2012 (Nicosia, February 2020)
• Workshop on Data – Quality, Analysis and Integrity (Dublin, May 2018) 
• Training course and workshop on Key Challenges in Internal Quality Control (Berlin, October 2012)
• Workshop on Key Quality Assurance Challenges for Analytical Measurements (Moscow, May 2011)
• Development of a questionnaire to seek information about activities in teaching and training in metrology in chemistry

Measurement Uncertainty and Traceability Working Group

This is a joint WG with CITAC.

Terms of Reference

1. The EURACHEM/CITAC Measurement Uncertainty and Traceability Working Group has been established and will operate in accordance with the Constitution agreed in the EURACHEM Memorandum of Understanding.
2. The EURACHEM/CITAC Measurement Uncertainty and Traceability Working Group will prepare guidance for the evaluation of uncertainties and establishment of traceability in chemical analysis. This guidance will be applicable to all chemical analytical laboratories and will provide guidance on the assessment of uncertainties and establishment of traceability required for accreditation.
3. These guides will be developed in collaboration with EA and will be updated as experience is gained in their use.

Work Programme

Guides

• The Working Group produced the Eurachem Guide Quantifying Uncertainty in Analytical Measurement, first published in 1995 and now in its third edition, which was published in 2012. Several translations are available.
• The Eurachem guide Use of uncertainty information in compliance assessment, published in 2007, provides guidance on how uncertainty may be taken into account in deciding compliance with a limit.
• The Eurachem guide Setting and Using Target Uncertainty in Chemical Measurement, published in 2015, gives guidance on the important task of deciding target uncertainty; this helps to make sure that a procedure is fit for its intended purpose.
• In 2003 the Working Group published the first Eurachem guide on Traceability in Chemical Measurement, which was updated in 2019. This Guide gives principles and guidance for the establishment of measurement traceability in quantitative chemical analysis.

Information leaflets

The working group has so far published five information leaflets:

• Traceability for analytical measurement summarise the principles of metrological traceability in routine testing.
• Use of uncertainty information in compliance assessment summarises the principles of interpreting results against regulatory or other specification limits.
• Using repeated measurements to improve the standard uncertainty addresses a common problem: when it is appropriate to divide a standard deviation by the square root of the number of observations when evaluating uncertainty for random variation.
• Treatment of an observed bias discusses whether or not an observed significant bias should be corrected and the impact this may have on the measurement uncertainty (MU).
• The leaflet Setting Target Measurement Uncertainty gives a brief introduction to the topic and introduces the Guide on the topic.

In addition, the WG maintains the leaflet Measurement Uncertainty for Laboratory Customers, originally published by SP (now RISE) and elaborated with Eurolab and others to help customers understand why laboratories report measurement uncertainty.

Workshops

The Measurement Uncertainty and traceability working group has coordinated several International workshops on measurement uncertainty, including

• Evaluation of measurement uncertainty (Graz, 1994; Berlin, 1997, Lisbon, 2011)
• Measurement Uncertainty in Sampling and Compliance (Berlin, 2008)
• Eurachem Workshop: Quality in Analytical Measurements (Lisbon, 2014)
• Eurachem workshop on Uncertainty from sampling and analysis for accredited laboratories (Berlin, 2019)

Members*

*Last updated 2022-05-06

Contact

The working group may be contacted via the working group Secretary using the Website contact form.