Beyond the 25 Year....th

Beyond the 25 Year....th

Issue 32 Autumn 2014

NewsA focus for analytical chemistry in Europe

The current issue of Eurachem Newsis featuring theprominently festivitiesstaged to remember the found ofingEurachem 25 years ago. The entirechoreography was in theof the eventhands of Bertil MagnussonPast Chairand Secretary Joakim Engman who,managed to make it a highlight of theirtwo-years term. ongratulations to theCSwedish team that is currently alsoserving so actively on the ExecutiveCommittee of Eurachem !And then, there was the Portugueseteam. While the thrust of the work wasmanaged locally by RicardoBettencourt da Silva, Maria FilomenaCamoes was instrumental as thesenior advisor behind the scenes (andsometimes also in front). Thanks toher and her husband´s authority thatthe Eurachem birthday party couldtake place at a splendid old castle in

the harbor of Cascais that is ineveryday use by the high rankingofficers of the Portuguese navy.Thank you to all four of you and toeverybody else who contributed,albeit in a way not so visible to me.

But, of course, the look at the pastserves mainly to get mentallyprepared for the future. Many issuesnow are well established that were inlimbo 25 years ago and “at the top ofthe pyramid” we now have CCQM(Comité Consultatif la Quantitépourthe Matière, Consultative Committeeon Amount of Substance) within BIPMthat establishes not only what cantechnically and scientifically achievedin chemical metrology, but was alsotuned by its first chair, ob Kaarls,Rwho was also first chair of Eurachem,to carefully monitor “how far the lightshines”.

Eurachem News is published bythe Eurachem SecretariatAACh, Montanuniversität LeobenFranz Josef Straße 188700 Leoben, Austriasecretariat@eurachem.orgwww.eurachem.org

Editor: Alessandra Meixner

The production of this newsletter was supported by national Eurachem organisations. No liability isaccepted for the accuracy of information and the views expressed are not necessarily those of theeditors, publisher, nor the official policy of member countries‘ governments.

In this Issue:

Words from the Chair 1Report from the GA 2

Eurachem 25th anniversary 3Workshops 5

Working Group reports 6Upcoming meetings 7

National Reports 9News 14

Contact points 16

Eurachem not only has to uphold theEuropean perspective theseonmatters, but acts as a relay intoalsocountries not active within CCQM(and there are many) and intoindustrial and academic circles toodetached from the CCQMperspective. I also serves ast acommon reference and source ofadvice to laboratories a, s well as toaccreditation bodies auditors.and

Two issues are essential in thisrespect: a strong interaction with otherorganizations with similar interestthrough a network of correspondingmembers and liaisons, and theprovision of a robust platform for asmany European countries as possible.While local Eurachem organizationsare ideally meant to their ownrunprograms according to their nationalneeds and priorities, Eurachem„activists” are encouraged to provideinput as contributors to localworkshops upon invitation.

continued on page 3

Report fromthe General Assembly

The 30 General Assembly tookth

place on 22 and 23 May 2014 l at

the Hotel Mundial in Lisbon,

Portugal.

We had 46 participants from 25countries, including a number of pastchairs present for the 25 anniversaryth

of Eurachem celebrations, PhilomenaCamoes, Paul de Bievre, BernardKing, ElisabethMaire Walsh andPritchard a .s past chair of the ETWGBulgaria, France, Georgia, Greece,Hungary and Serbia were notrepresented at this year's GA.

Handover of Chairmanship

Bertil Magnusson spoke a few wordsabout his 2 year period ofchairmanship and especially thankedSteve Ellison for a smooth transition.Wolfhard Wegscheider as new chairthanked Bertil Magnusson for hisfresh and heartwarming personalstyle and commended JoakimEngman for leaving the finances inperfect order.

He then went on to speak about hisvision for the coming two years.- ehelp laboratories achieve th

fitness for purpose- offer guidance by disseminating

information- offer a platform for networking on a

national and international level- lfulfil the mission of educating and

training, especially young peoplewho move through the ranks of anorganisation

Progress on Eurachem work items:

Eurachem has a new policy on theappointment of officers and a newwebsite policy. There are 3 Eurachemguides under review.The new guide on Target Uncertaintywas presented for comments. Thediscussion was spirited and fruitful, itwas decided to review the draft andpresent it for a vote at the next GA.The leaflet on Bias also needs a littlemore work before publishing.

Presentations from Liaisons

This year we had reports from:- Nordic Methods Committee on

Foods- European Cooperation for

Accreditation ( EA ) and the EA/LabCommittee

- Permanent Liaison Group- EA-Eurolab-Eurachem working

group “Proficiency Testing inAccreditation”

- Eurolab- Euramet- European Association for Chemical

and Molecular Sciences- Consultative Committee for Amount

of Substance ( CCQM )- Codex Alimentarius and

Interagency Meeting- International Laboratory

Accreditation Committee/Laboratory Committee

- International LaboratoryAccreditation Committee

- International Union of Pure andApplied Chemistry

- ISO REMCO Committee onReference Materials

Next General Assembly will be heldin Warsaw, 26-29 May 2015.

Alessandra Meixner

Membership & Representation

Georgia is new associate member. Regrettably Malta has left Eurachem.Manfred Golze from Germany is retiring. We thank him for serving many years as liaison from Eurolab to Eurachem andwelcome Michael Koch as new national delegate for Germany.Barbara O'Leary and Michael Fay are the new national delegates for Ireland. Maire Walsh left some big shoes to fill.We also welcome Pawel Majek from the Slovak Republic and Alfonso Gonzalez del Rey Estevez from Spain.Caroline Laurent from BIPEA will be representing France. Michela Sega from Italy is replacing Enzo Ferrara.Miloslav Suchanek is retiring, he served Eurachem as Chair from 2010 to 2012 and as Past Chair from 2012 to 2014.He was our liaison to and from ISO REMCO. A big thank you to Miloslav, he will be greatly missed.Wolfhard Wegscheider from Austria is Eurachem's new Chairman. Prof. Wegscheider is one of the founding members ofEurachem and well known to most of the Eurachem community.Bertil Magnusson from Sw den has finished his term as Chairman and will be Past Chair until 2016.eDavid Milde from Czech Republik is now Vice Chair and will take over Chairmanship in 2016.Joakim Engman, our last secretary and treasurer, was elected member to the Executive Committee for the next 3 years.Eugenia E�imie Totu will remain member of the execu�ve commi� ee for another 3 years.Alessandra Meixner from Austria will serve as secretary un�l 2016.

2

The difference between anorganisation and its members is thatan organisation, if vital, can easilyoutlive its members. Eurachem is now25 years of age and most of themembers are over 25 years old.Today Eurachem is vital and themembership is growing. Eurachemguides are being used more andmore, and our workshops are wellattended with participants fromaround the world. So there is a goodchance that Eurachem will reach 50years of age, even if many of us willnot be able to celebrate that historicalmoment. But we did celebrate the 25year anniversary in Lisbon, perfectlyorganised by our Portuguese team ledby Ricardo Bettencourt da Silva.

The birthday party was held in PalácioSeixas, a prestigious premises inCascais outside Lisbon housing thePortuguese Navy Mess (I even had tobring a tie this time). Except for RobKaarls and Veikko Komppa who werenot able to come, and Ed de Leer who

Eurachem 25 Anniversaryth

is sadly no longer among us, wemanaged to gather all the past chairsand Alex Williams, one of the foundingmembers of Eurachem. Alex waspresented with a glass vase with aEurachem inscription. The past chairsreceived nice photo books aboutEurachem activities and souvenirsfrom Portugal prepared by Carla, thewife of Ricardo.The past chairs had an opportunity togive a recollection of their Eurachemtime in a three minute speech. Alex'swife Beryl – a regular attendee atEurachem events – also gave a shortspeech. The small competition was tobe as close as possible to 3.00minutes. The winner was definitelyBernard King who gave an interestingrecollection of the founding ofEurachem in exactly 2 minutes and 57seconds.The venue close to the sea waswonderful, the food delicious, the wineexcellent, and the entertainmenthilarious (including a speciallyprepared 'Eurachem song') which,together with the company of otherEurachem members, made it anevening I will keep in my memory.

In order to mark the anniversary therewas a workshop on measurementquality (see separate article), and twopapers have been prepared for thejournal 'Accreditation and QualityAssurance' (AQUAL). The first paperoutlines the history of Eurachem and

the second attempts to assess theimpact of the first 25 years ofEurachem activities.Both papers can be found in AQUALthis year but also on our website,www.eurachem.org.

Bertil Magnusson,

Past Chair

Beyond the 25 year....th

continued from page 1

The task of disseminating bestpractice to the laboratories stillremains as ean enormous one verynew person at the bench needs alabminimum of understanding andproficiency. New methods of analysisin biochemistry and medicine ( “multi-omics” ) are quickly gainingalsoground and require a fresh look atroutines and actions with respect toquality issues.

The two s howevercentral issueremain ow hold o reliable: h to get fstandards nd, a , secondly, how toestablish the optimal procedure toachieve fit-an uncertainty level that isfor-purpose articularly when, p there ismore and more bioinformaticsinvolved the extraction ofininformation.

Yes, advances inI have no doubts,methodology provide for acontinue tobusy future for Eurachem.

Wolfhard WegscheiderChair

3

Paolo Bianco

Dr Paolo Bianco, the Director ofthe Testing LaboratoriesDepartment at ACCREDIA, passedaway suddenly on October 4th.Dr.Paolo Bianco has received hisprofessional formation in Turin towhich he has remained boundeven after moving to Rome tobecome Director of the SINAL,which later became ACCREDIA‘stesting laboratories. In this role hemanaged to convey to employeeshis expertise and enthusiasm forthe job,He was able to set aside personalaspirations, to always encouragethe most appropriate choices toput Italy in line with EuropeanUnion requirements.The sad news also hit colleaguesof EA and ILAC hard, where hewas responsible for theaccreditation of testinglaboratories.He was a great man, bothprofessionally and personally, andwill be remembered for hisgreat expertise and also anextraordinary humanity.

adapted from eulogy ofFrederick Grazioli

President ACCREDIA

We remember

Eurachem regrets the recent lossof Dr John Green, a GeneralAssembly member rom the UK.fJohn Green was an industrialanalytical chemist, moving intoindustry after his PhD in 1971.His career included research intopolymerisation catalysts, flavourisolation and the development ofon-line analysis to manufacturingprocesses. He nonethelessretained contact with academia,both as a visiting lecturer at Hulland Dublin City universities and asan external MSc examiner.Throughout his industrial careerand into retirement, John was avery active member of the RoyalSociety of Chemistry, serving atlocal section level and with thesociety's Analytical Division (asCouncil Member, President andTreasurer). He served as aEurachem UK delegate, nominatedby the RSC, at Eurachem GeneralAssemblies, reporting back to theRSC and actively supportingEurachem-UK activities. As anindustrial chemist, John brought awelcome sense of practicality andindustrial relevance to hisprofessional activities, as well as astrong sense of the importance ofanalytical quality assurance and ofthe importance of internationalharmonisation.He will be missed by all of hisprofessional colleagues, within andoutside Eurachem.

Steve Ellison

Laboratory Statisticsby Anders allnerK

Statistics is the science – and art – ofdescribing sets of data in terms ofprobabilities, no matter if it refers tocomparisons of events or results,uncertainties, or central tendencies.Statistics is a subject almost all,perhaps all, laboratorians have beenexposed to during education andtraining and something almosteverybody meets in daily life. Never-the-less, as soon as we are confrontedwith results or a computationalproblem outside our daily routines thequestion arises what is valid andexactly how were the formulas? Arethere any caveats or precautions Ineed to consider? Is there any helpavailable outside the complexstatistical software? Can I do thecalculations myself, rapidly andcorrectly ?The handbook “Laboratory Statistics”is meant as a compendium, to simplifyrecollection of statistical knowledgethat might have fallen out of theimmediate memory. LaboratoryStatistics not only contains the mostfundamental definitions of statisticalentities but also more advancedprocedures. Together it covers virtuallyall you need in ordinary laboratorywork. The author has bent his back towrite the formulas in an expandedformat to avoid the mathematicalshorthand, although many find thatelegant. Many formulas thereforeoccur in different forms and formats tofacilitate recognition across cultures. Inaddition, there is a comprehensive, yetinformed, selection of metrologicalterms, chosen from VIM to enhanceunderstanding and communication inthe field.

Bertil Magnusson

eBook ISBN : 9780124169739Print Book ISBN : 9780124169715

New Book

4

John Green

Eurachem Workshops 2014Workshop on Quality in Analytical Measurements - From Specification toDecision, May 2014, Lisbon, PortugalFrom 19 21 May Eurachemto 2014held a workshop on “Quality inAnalytical Measurements”, with thesubtitle “From specification todecision” in Lisbon This workshop.was organised by the Working Groupon “Measurement Uncertainty andTraceability” with the collaboration ofthe chairs of the ETWG, MVWG andPTWG local organizers were led. Theby members of the Faculty ofSciences of the University of Lisbon.RELACRE Portuguese, theassociation of accredited laboratories,was particularly important for theadvertisement of the event inPortugal.The workshop discussed all stages ofthe measurement cycle and some

quality assurance tools that ensurethe adequacy of producedthemeasurements for its intended use.There were 5 sessions: “Eurachem25th Anniversary - The measurementcycle”, “Setting requirements formeasurement validation”, “Biasevaluation and proficiency testing”,“Measurement traceability anduncertainty”, “Complianceassessment” and “Quality Assuranceand Training”.The workshop started with apresentation by Alex Williams aboutwhy and how Eurachem was foundedand closed with a discussion aboutfuture activities of Eurachem initiatedby the former chair Maria FilomenaCamões.

Sessions were accompanied bybreakout session that allowedparticipants to share experiences andpositions. Participants were asked tosuggest how Eurachem can play anactive role in areas that demandprogress.The 137 participants of the workshopfrom 36 countries continentsand 3gave a very .positive feedbackThe book of abstracts, somepresentations and pictures areavailable on the workshop website(http://eurachem2014.fc.ul.pt) Themost relevant information of theworkshop is also available fromwww.eurachem.org.

Ricardo Bettencourt da Silva

8th Eurachem Workshop on Proficiency Testing in Analytical Chemistry,Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, October 2014 Berlin, GermanyFrom the 6 to 9 October, 245th th

delegates from 64 countries gatheredin Berlin for this triennial eventbringing together the world's leadingproficiency testing (PT) providers,along with accreditation bodies, otherregulators and a number of users ofPT, in order to debate the latestdevelopments in internationalstandards and operational practicewithin the sector. The Workshop wasorganised by the EurachemProficiency Testing Working Group, inco-operation with CITAC and EQALM,and was supported by a number oforganisations.The workshop covered a number of

key topics through keynote speakers,short presentations, posterpresentations (77 in total) anddiscussion groups. The key topicsdiscussed were:

- Review of ISO/IEC 17043- User perspective of PT- Sampling PT- The revised ISO 13528- PT in developing countries- ceHarmonisation of performanassessment in qualitative PTs

Prior to the workshop two trainingsessions were held on the topic 'ISO13528 and beyond'.Feedback from the delegatesreflected the great success of the

event which provided good interactiveparticipation and cross-fertilisation ofideas.Copies of many of the presentationsand posters are available on both theWorkshop website( ) as well aswww.eurachempt2014.dethe Eurachem website( ). A number ofwww.eurachem.orgpapers will be developed from thevarious presentations, includingfeedback from the working groups,and published as a topical focus in anissue of Accreditation and QualityAssurance (Springer Verlag).

Brian BrookmanMichael Koch

5

Working Group Reports

Eurachem Education andTraining Working Group

The Education and Training WorkingGroup held a successful meeting inLisbon in May. During the year wehave been pleased to welcome newmembers from Germany, Slovakiaand Turkey. Working group membershave been working to collate abibliography of quality assurancetraining resources. The list ofresources has now been published asa 'Reading List', available as both apdf and webpages, in the Publicationssection of the Eurachem website. Thelist will be reviewed and updatedannually by the working group.A key task for the group in the comingyear will be the revision of theEurachem 'Guide to Quality inAnalytical Chemistry: An aid toaccreditation'. A task group has beenformed and a 'kick-off' meeting held.Work on the revision will continue inthe coming months. The revision willbring the guide into line with ISO/IEC17025 requirements and ensure thatthe terminology is consistent withcurrent international vocabularies.The working group is also preparing aleaflet, 'The right word for everyconcept: The way out of the tower ofBabel' which aims to highlight theimportance of consistent terminologyin analytical science, and raiseawareness of the VIM and theEurachem guide on terminology inanalytical measurement.

Vicki Barwick

Uncertainty and TraceabilityWorking Group

The Uncertainty and TraceabilityWorking Group held a meeting at LGCin December 2013. The main activitiesof the working group have beenpreparation for the workshop in Lisbon,drafting of the guide on targetuncertainty and consideration of biasevaluation and its uncertainty. TheTraceability guide is under revision.The working group will also meet onWednesday 21st of May in Lisbonmainly to evaluate the workshop.

Alex Williams

participants (incl. 2 new members)and again intense and fruitfuldiscussions led to new suggestionsfor revised text in a new version of theguideline. As it was impossible toagree on a final draft during themeeting, specific subjects were givento 4 sub-groups to elaborate on. Afinal draft could finally be sent out tomembers of the GA for commentingby end of February.At th meeting it was also decided toisset up a plan for the future work in theWG 2 regular. The group will holdmeetings a year (January & June).After the completion of the revision ofthe guide relevant subjects that havecome up might be tackled in the formof annexes to the validation guide.

After looking at the comments comingin from the GA representatives wewere able to present a voting draft atthe WG meeting in Copenhagen inJune 2014. This led finally to thepublication of the revised guide, see

separate article on page 7.

Among the subject fors consideredfurther discussion/elaboration are:· Multi-parameter methods· Multi-matrix methods· Robustness· Planning including efficient design· Validation report outline· Use of data from published

standard· Use of data from the validation

study· Setting performance requirements· Verification of test kits/automated

analysis (black box)· Extent of validation – see IUPAC

single lab guide p 844.· Method validation/instrument

qualification. Calibration of analytical

instruments

A priority list will be discussed withinthe WG and 1-2 subjects given tosub-groups within the WG forelaboration of drafts for discussion atthe planned WG meetings in thefuture.

Lorens P. Sibbesen

Method Validation WorkingGroup

The MVWG is now consisting of 20members representing 11 differentcountries.The year 2013 was finally the yearwhere the work on revision of the“Fitness for Purpose” guide was puton track for real and a significantprogress was made towards a revisedversion of the guide.This is not leastthanks to Bertil Magnusson and UlfÖrnemark (assisted by Vicki Barwick),who by end of 2012 offered to act aseditors in the process – but alsothanks to an active and growingworking group.

Activities have been centered around3 meetings, – with a lot ofcommunication and commentinggoing on within the WG in periods inbetween:The first meeting in connection withthe GA in Helsinki, May 2013 washeld with 8 participants (among those2 new members of the WG). Some ofthe members who had made theirapologies for the meeting had alsocontributed with written comments. Allcomments were taken into a new draftof the 2 version.nd

A 2-day meeting was held in Berlin inSeptember 2013 with 6 participantsdiscussing intensely the 50 pages ofcomments sent in during the periodssince the previous meeting andadditionally two excerpts from the texton specific subjects (LOD/LOQ andtrueness). The discussions resulted ina new draft document sent out forfurther commenting within the WG At.the meeting suggestions for additionalsubjects to be included in anadditional new guide (or new annexesto the existing one) w discussedere ,partly based on outputs from the WSin Berlin May 2012.In addition to the new items it wasstrongly agreed within the group thata of good and useful examples ofsettypical validation protocols followingthe recommendations in our guideshould be established. After formalapproval such examples might bepublished .on the Eurachem website

In January another 2-day2014meeting was held in Rome with 9

6

Proficiency Testing WG

The EURACHEM Proficiency TestingWorking Group (PTWG) continues tomake progress on a number ofwork activities:The latest PT leaflet – “How canproficiency testing help mylaboratory?” has been finalized inEnglish and is published on theEurachem website. Translations are inprogress and so far the followingversions are available on the website:Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Italian,Serbian, Slovakian, Spanish,Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian.The production of guidance on theperformance evaluation in qualitativeand interpretative PT/EQA schemes isprogressing. A survey to currentPT/EQA providers to enquire howthey currently evaluate performancein qualitative and interpretativeschemes has been undertaken whichhas generated a large amountinformation. The information iscurrently being reviewed.

UpcomingMeetings andWorkshops

CITAC/ Isranalytica International

Workshop on Human Errors and

Quality of Chemical Analytical

Results

14-15 January 2015, Tel Aviv (Israel)

Eurachem General Assembly31st

and Eurachem 50 Executivest

Committee Meeting

26 29 May 2015 Warsaw (Poland )-

Eurachem 51 Executivest

Committee Meeting

25 Sep 2015, Graz (Austria)

Eurachem G A32 eneral ssemblynd

9-13 May 2016, Ghent (Belgium)in connection with a workshop on atopic on Method Validation

The final arrangements are beingmade for the 8th PT workshop beingheld in Berlin on the 6th to 9thOctober 2014. A report about this ison page 4.Work continues on two new leaflets:„Planning and frequency ofparticipation” and„Selecting appropriate PT schemes”.

Three new members, from France,Italy and Spain have joined the WGand will attend their first meeting inOctober.Current members of the PTWG are:Brian Brookman, UK, (Chair), CarolineLaurent, France, Tracey Noblett, UK,(Secretariat), Dragan Nikolic, Serbia,Ewa Bulska, Poland, Ulf Örnemark,Sweden, Owen Butler, UK, MarinaPatriarca, Italy, Laura Ciaralli, ItalyKees van Putten, The Netherlands,Vicente Catalán Cuenca, Spain, PiotrRobouch, EU, Andreja Drolc,Slovenia, Lorens Sibbesen, Denmark,Michael Koch, Germany, UllaTiikkainen, Finland.

Brian Brookman,

New version of the popular ”Fitness for Purpose” Guide!

The Eurachem Guide “Fitness for Purpose of Analytical Methods. A laboratory Guide to Method Validation and

Related Topics” was first issued in 1998 and has been very popular over the years. I has actually been the 2 mostt nd

downloaded document from the websit only “beaten” by the MU guide!e,Already some years ago, the Executive Committee saw the need for a revision of the guide, and the Method ValidationWorking Group (MVWG) was revived. So now after 3-4 years of intensive work within the MVWG a 2 version was, nd

released , accountthis October taking in experiences gained over the years, new applications, renewed requirements in thefield but basically keeping the same structure of the guide. The text in the various sections has been thoroughly discussed,,updated – and reworded especially on the subjects ” ” (sect. 6.2)in some cases , Limit of detection and limit of quantificationand ” ” (sect. 6.3)Working rangeThe guide is aimed at in-house validation, focusing on mostly quantitative analysis.Annex A has been replaced by references to the VIM3 and theof the previous version was dealing with definitions. ThisEurachem guideline “Terminology in analytical measurement” also freely downloadable from the( TAM, Eurachemwebsite).

wo new annexes ha been addedT for better understanding of the statistical methods for the evaluation of validation data ve: ” ” : ” ”Annex B Annex CStatistical basis of limit of detection calculations Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)and .

Annex D “ “ a small sub-section (6.2.5) on ” ”Notes on qualitative analysis Capability of Detectionand deals with someproblems in Qualitative Analysis.T for every validation parameter with an instructionhe new version includes a on how to deal with that”Quick Reference”

specific validation parameter in practical circumstances.We, the members of the MVWG, are convinced as as the old one. It is plannedthat this new version will be popular tomake worked examples of s within the scope available Eurachem . Also asome application of the guide on the websiteworkshop is planned for May 2016 on a related topic in connection with the GA 2016 in Ghent.Special thanks go to the two editors Bertil Magnusson and Ulf Örnemark who took upon them the vast task of keeping trackof all the comments made and finally combining everything nicely into the new version and to all the members of the WGfor all the voluntary work.

Lorens P. Sibbesen

7

National Reports

The work within our national Eurachem organisations is one ofthe most important channels to convey our message to thelaboratories and our stakeholders. Below you will find reportsabout activities in the national organisation.

Austria

Wolfhard Wegscheider from Austria isEurachem's new Chairman. Herepresents the Austrian Society ofAnalytical Chemists ASAC(www.asac.at) within the AustrianChemical Society (www.goech.at), anoriginal signatory of the MoU in 1989.Dr Wegscheider is a member of theworking group on MeasurementUncertainty and Traceability and ofthe working group on Education andTraining. He is currently Professor ofGeneral and Analytical Chemistry atthe Montanuniversität Leoben, wherehe also served as Rector (President)from 2003 to 2011.Among the achievements is the highvisibility and very prominentrepresentation of quality matters in allchemistry curricula both at thesecondary school and university level.The main activity within EurachemAustria is the post-graduate trainingfor academic and non-academic staff.The 4 weeks course is now in its 14th

year, last year there was a very highparticipation with 36 students. Austriais also holding the EurachemSecretariat until May 2016.

Alessandra Meixner

a good view about how the relation isbetween BELAC (Accreditation bodyin Belgium) and their clients. Therespons of the survey was 62,5%.eThe information was spread by mail toall members.BELAB presented the results of thequestionnaire survey to the BELACadvisory board.In autumn 2013, a new websitewww.belab.be was created whichcame online early 2014. This websitegives on different levels information tomembers (with password) and peoplewho are interested. Eurachem events,guides, general information, …arealso distributed by this way.A BELAB seminar was organized inMarch 2014 in Brussels. About 130persons (70 Flemish and 60 Frenchspeaking people) from very differentfields (pharmacy, textile, water, food,medical labs …..) attended theseminar. The seminar was organizedin cooperation with BELAC.The topics of the seminar were:measurement uncertainty, nonconformities and flexible scope. In theintroduction given by the presidentand vice president of BELAB, thework of BELAB, Eurachem andEurolab was presented.In spring 2015 BELAB will organize aworkshop in cooperation with BELACabout internal audit and validation ofsoftware used in the lab.

In May 2016 BELAB will organize

the Eurachem General Assembly

and The Eurachem Executive

Spring Meeting in connection with

a workshop based onon a subject

the new Eurachem validation guide.

T Ehe urachem activities andinformation is diffused through thenew website in a presentation onandthe GA. The Eurachem InformativeBulletin is distributed theamongmembers.

Isabelle Vercruysse

Bulgaria

In 2013 the hird EditionT of theEURACHEM /CITAC Guide„Quantifying Uncertainty in AnalyticalMeasurement was translated in”Bulgarian language supported byUBM disseminate in paper andand delectronic form.Several seminars and specializedcourses for representatives oflaboratories for testing and calibrationwere organized on the subject :of- :Uncertainty sampling Assessmentin

of the measurement uncertainty intesting .(March 2014)

- :Good l Technicalaboratory practicerequirements and operators,influences on assurance of reliableand metrological traceable results ofmeasurement in testing andcalibration Practical application of.CRM (December 2013).

Lectures were given on themes fromfollowing EURACHEM Guides, part ofwhich have been translated inBulgarian language:“Measurement uncertainty arisingfrom sampling (2007); Traceability in“Chemical Measurement (2003); Guideto Quality in Analytical Chemistry(2002); The Selection and use ofReference Materials (2002);Terminology in AnalyticalMeasurement: Introduction to VIM 3 .”

Un a p intil the end of 2014 ublicationthe about G ,bulletin uide QUAM, 2012is planned aimed at experts workingin field of chemistry.

A wprogram training ithfor coursesthe participation of CBUL HEMthesection draw upwas n and discussedby the Board of UBM on the followingsubjects:

- G withQUAM 2012 uide examples inthe field of chemistry

- Calibration of measurementinstruments: spectrophotometers,chromatographs and spectrometerson the base of good laboratorypractice.

Dimitar Stankov

Belgium

BELAB is member of Eurachem andEurolab. The association has anexecutive board with 9 members andcounts 50 members in the GA.Members of the Executive committeeof BELAB are represented in severaladvisory boards of BELAC (Belgianaccreditation authority).Since 2012, BELAB has been led byIsabelle Vercruysse (chair) andPhilippe Dewolfs (vice-chair).In 2013, BELAB gave to his memberson the yearly GA meeting a report ofthe questionnaire survey theyorganized late 2012. This survey gave

8

Cyprus

An ad-hoc committee was establishedwith the task to revise the EA-4/10“Accreditation for MicrobiologicalLaboratories”. This document wasdrafted by Eurachem more than tenyears ago and following a decision byEA, Eurachem was asked to reviseand publish it as its own document. InDecember 2013, after the submissionof comments by the nationalEurachem committees, the EurachemGuide entitled “Accreditation forMicrobiological Laboratories” (secondedition) was published.It has been decided that the CyprusEurachem Committee, operatingunder the umbrella of the PancyprianUnion of Chemists (PUC), isrestructured to ensure more efficiencyand to encourage the involvement ofmore experienced people working inlaboratories and the universities aswell of young colleagues. To this end,after a proposal for the formation of aDivision on Quality Assurance thatwas approved by the last GeneralAssembly of the PUC in March 2014,further steps were taken to realize theaforementioned task. Up to 30 peopleworking in both public and privatelaboratories and the academiaactively expressed their interest inparticipating. It is quite important thatyoung colleagues have already joinedthe effort. After two meetings held inMay and June, a detailed plan forcoming activities has been drafted.Emphasis is given to training andawareness activities, use ofcommunication and informationmeans and wider involvement in theactivities of Eurachem.

Kyriacos Tsimillis

of Czech society for quality andthewith seven lecturers from Eurachem-CZ and two independent experts.In January 2014 we organised threeadays TrainMiC© event in Bratislavawith 25 Slovak participants fromacademia.The translation of 3rd editiontheEurachem/CITAC Guide QuantifyingUncertainty in AnalyticalMeasurement into Czech languagewas successfully and willcompletedbe shortly published as o 19volume Nof serie called Qualimetrics.our sOur organisation issued twohasNewsletters with 8 pages of text forour members in 2013-14. TheSummer edition informed readersabout new edition of ISO 15189theas Theit was published in Czech.Winter edition 2014 focused on thenewly translated ISO Guide 34. Ournewsletters also bring informationabout local events and futuredevelopments.Our , , iswebpage www.eurachem.cz atool for dissemination of up-to-dateinformation. This year two new leafletswere published and are freelyaccessible. Both of them aretranslations of Eurachem leaflets intoCzech.Members of the Executive Committeeof EURACHEM-CZ closely cooperatewith Czech Institute for Accreditation,the Czech Metrological Institute, andEUROLAB-CZ.

David Milde

during November on the subject2013“Developments within MethodValidation”.The meeting was mainly based ontwo activities in the area: The ongoingwork on revision of the EurachemGuide “Fitness for Purpose…”andparallel work in a Danish workinggroup on revising an older DANAKguideline on the subject. The meetingwas very well attended, and gave a lotof useful feedback from theparticipants in terms of relevantquestions experiences fromandpractical work on method validation inthe laboratories.One of the important activities forEurolab Denmark is representing theaccredited laboratories towards ourDanish Accreditation body, DANAK.Our organization is appointingmembers for the various advisorygroups within DANAK, whereespecially one related toEnvironmental Testing and anotherrelated to Food Testing is of bigrelevance for our Network forAnalytical Chemistry. Ourrepresentative is holding thechairmanship in the EnvironmentalAdvisory Group at present, and weare working deliberately on setting uprelevant agendas for the meetingsand initiate relevant discussion forimproving the accreditation practicesin the area.During 2013 our members attached tothe Network for Analytical Chemistryw contacted a number of times forerecomment on drafts for new lawsssuggested as part of our regulatorysystem in Denmark related toactivities in analytical laboratories.Especially a revised regulation onQuality Assurance related requests forlaboratories doing work related tomonitoring of our environment wasissued during the year, and commentsfrom a number of our memberscontributed to a more adapted – andrealistic – wording in the revisedregulation. In relation to thisparticularly the guidance – andadditional discussions – fromEurachem in handling of uncertaintyrelated to bias proved very useful.So directly or indirectly Eurachem hasbeen alive and kicking amonganalytical laboratories in Denmark in2013.

Lorens P. Sibbesen

Czech Republic

During 2013-2014, Eurachem CzechRepublic was involved in the followingactivities:In autumn 2013 due to requests fromlaboratories we again arranged sixadays course „Quality Manager inChemical Laboratory”. This coursetook place in Prague with supportthe

Denmark

Eurachem in Denmark nested inisthe Network for Analytical Chemistrywithin Eurolab Denmark and hasabout 110 individuals from about 70member institutions/companiessigned up The network is facilitated.by our technical secretariat (and theboard) in terms of arranging meetingsproviding the members withinformation of interest and relevancefor analytical laboratories andappointing representatives among themembers for advisory groups withinDANAK (the Danish AccreditationBody), steering committees ofreference laboratories etc.We have only had one formal meeting

9

Estonia

In 2013, Estonia joined Eurachem andEurachem activities in Estonia arecoordinated by EstoniantheEnvironmental Research Centre(EERC). wo nationalThe trepresentatives are Riin Rebane fromEERC and Ivo Leito from University ofTartu.This year m were aimedany activitiesat Estarting a stronger urachemcommunity in Estonia:establishing a webpage with all themost important info about Eurachemtranslated into Estonian( )http://www.klab.ee/firma/eurachem/with links to different guidelines andevents.In addition, a small survey wasconducted which helped to spreadinformation about Eurachem and alsocombine a list of interestedlaboratories for further discussions(about 30 laboratories). urveyThe sshowed that 80% of the organi ationsshave heard about the Eurachem andthe main interest areas are validation,uncertainty and proficiency testing.In addition, a tutorial review article forLC-MS method validation is beingwritten with the participation of RiinRebane and Ivo Leito, also containingthe info about the Eurachemvalidation guideline validation. Acourse mostly based on theEurachem validation guideline wasorganized in May 2014. MultipleEurachem drafts of documents havebeen given feedback to and PT leafletwas translated into Estonian.Ivo Leito participates in the work ofthe Eurachem MeasurementUncertainty WG and specifically incompiling the leaflet on biascorrection (together with BertilMagnusson). Indirectly related toEurachem, a Massive Open OnlineCourse (MOOC) “Estimation ofmeasurement uncertainty in chemicalanalysis” has been set up and its firstedition has successfully run duringMarch 03 - April 13, 2014. The courseeventually had 270 participants frommore than 40 countries. 141participants successfully completedthe course, making the completionrate 52%.

Riin Rebane

Finland

Finntesting Association is anumbrella forassociationEurachem Finland andEurolab Finland. Theassociation has 30 companymembers and 27 individualmembers. FinntestingAssociation has an executiveboard with 10 members.Finntesting Association hasnominated members in theEurachem ExecutiveCommittee, Eurachemin theGeneral Assembly, andseveral Eurachem WorkingGroups.In 2013 Finntesting Associationorganized Eurachem annualthemeeting during which a two-dayFinntesting/MIKES/Eurachemworkshop on Quality Assurance ofMeasurements from Field toLaboratory was held. 45Theparticipants of the workshop werefrom 12 countries. There were twomain subjects in the workshopincluding a poster session anddiscussions: challenges related to on-site/on-line measurements andchallenges on nanotechnology. Theparticipants considered the scientificprogramme important and interestingaccording to the results of thequestionnaire made.Finntesting Association encouragedtwo students by delivering themawards based on student'smeritorious thesis where qualityassurance aspects had been takeninto account. The Association alsorecognized Christina Waddington-Waldén from FINAS for her successfulwork in the field of accreditationnationally and internationally duringmany decades.

Finntesting Association

Germany

In November 2013 EUROLAB-Dorganised a successful secondTrainMiC seminar at BAM in Berlin.As decided by the General Assemblyof EUROLAB-D, the transfer of theSecretariat from BAM Federal Institutefor Materials Research and Testing toanother member (VMPA, Associationof Materials Testing Institutes) wasprepared in 2013 and came intooperation on 1 January 2014.According to a contract betweenEUROLAB-D and VMPA, the newSecretariat will perform alladministrative tasks while BAM willcontinue to support the work ofEUROLAB-D concerning substantiveissues and the management of theTechnical Committees.A new website is under preparationand will be launched before the nextGeneral Assembly which will takeplace on 6 June 2014 in combinationwith a colloquium. Among others thewebsite will provide topical informationof EUROLAB and EURACHEM, e.g.the EURACHEM Guides and leafletsand, if available, their Germantranslations. Recently Germantranslations of TROLL Book and TAMwere finished.EUROLAB Germany is organising the8th International Workshop onProficiency Testing in AnalyticalChemistry, Microbiology andLaboratory Medicine, which will takeplace from 6 - 9 October 2014 inBerlin. In the meantime the secondcircular was prepared anddisseminated and published on theworkshop website(www.eurachempt2014.de). Abstractsfor short presentations and scientificposters can be submitted via thiswebsite by 31 May 2014. Notificationof acceptance by the ScientificCommittee will be done by 15 July2014. Some sponsors were found tosupport this event and someorganisations registered as exhibitors.We will need further the full support ofall EURACHEM organisations forpromoting this workshop in order tomake it as successful as itspredecessors.

Eurolab Germany

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Ireland

The Eurachem AnalyticalMeasurement Competition (EAMC) isheld annually and the event isorganised and run by EAMCCommittee, Eurachem IrelandSecretariat and by the host IT /University. The competition continuesto thrive and engender supportthroughout the chemistry educationcommunity and is largely selfsupported.This year's EAMC competition washosted by Limerick Institute ofTechnology. Twenty two teams fromeleven colleges took part. The teamshad to carry out an acetylsal c ic acidi ylanalysis by back titration and anestimation of iron by UV-visspectrophotmetry using 1,10phenanthroline.The winning team was from WaterfordIT and the runners up from IT Carlowand Dublin City University.This year's judges were Ray Leonardformerly of Loctite Henkel Ireland,Tom Hannigan from the ForensicLaboratory and Darragh Cunninghamfrom the EPA.The plaques for the winners werereplaced by engraved glass plates ona wooden plinth, still featuring theNewgrange lightbox logo that is alliedto the competition.Sponsors include Institute ofChemistry of Ireland, Royal Society ofChemistry Analytical Trust Fund, EPA,Masontech, Pharmachemical Ireland.The expenses for the teams and theirmentors are paid with support of theAssociation of Heads of Schools ofScience. The student bursaries arepaid by Eurachem Ireland.Marie Walsh of LIT passed theChairmanship of the EAMCCommittee to Ray Benson, IT Carlow,which will host next year's event.

Seán McGowan

out through the dissemination ofrelevant information, the organizationof training events, the contribution toguidance documents and theirtranslation in Italian. The sameorganizations and the IstitutoZooprofilattico Sperimentale delPiemonte, Liguria e Valle d'Aosta alsosupport the EC JRC IRMMProgramme TrainMiC “Training inMetrology in Chemistry"(www.trainmic.org).The latest developments in Eurachemactivities were highlighted at the 3rdJoint Workshop of the NationalReference Laboratories for HeavyMetals in Food, Heavy Metals in Feedand Additives in Feed, held in Romeon the 29 and 30 October 2013.Information on the latest Eurachemworkshops was presented and theparticipants were addressed to thematerials available on the Eurachemwebsite for further details. An updatewas given on the revision of Guides,including completed projects(Accreditation for MicrobiologicalLaboratories, 2013), on-goingrevisions (Traceability in ChemicalMeasurement and The Fitness forPurpose of Analytical Methods) andcoming projects (Guide to Quality inAnalytical Chemistry: An Aid toAccreditation) with an invitation tothose interested to come forward.Participants received copies of theEurachem Newsletter and ofEurachem leaflets.In February 2014, a TrainMiC trainingevent on "Validation of test methodsand measurement uncertaintyevaluation” was held for 16 membersof staff at ISS.The translation in Italian of theEurachem Guide “Terminology inAnalytical Measurement” has beencompleted and is available on-linefree of charge, as a National Instituteof Health Report (Rapporti ISTISAN13/41, www.iss.it) as well as on theEurachem website. In addition, theleaflet on “How can ProficiencyTesting help my laboratory?”produced by the PTWG wastranslated in Italian.Eurachem events, such as EurachemWorkshops, were promoted throughthe distribution of announcements andlinks to mailing lists and theirpublication on the organizations'websites. Eurachem Italy contributesto the Eurachem Working Groups on:Education&Training, ProficiencyTesting and Method Validation and to

the joint EA-Eurolab-Eurachem WGProficiency Testing and Accreditation.A two-days meeting of the MethodValidation WG was hosted at ISS(Rome) in January 2014.

Marina Patriarca

Italy

Eurachem in Italy is jointly supportedby the National Institute for Researchin Metrology (INRIM), the NationalInstitute of Health (ISS) and theNational Institute for EnvironmentalResearch and Protection (ISPRA). Itsactivity is aimed to promote theimplementation of metrology conceptsby analytical scientists and is carried

Poland

Presently 77 laboratories aremembers of the Eurachem-PL Sectionof Polish Chemical Laboratories in theClub of Polish Testing Laboratories,POLLAB.Since 18.12.2013 Eurachem-PL hasbeen lead by Andrzej Brzyski (chair),Ewa Bulska (vice-chair), and thesection secretariat is hosted bysecretariat POLLAB.The Section was established in 1992,and is one from 9 sections of the Clubof Polish Testing LaboratoriesPOLLAB.Members of the Section are involvedin organization of symposiatheorganized every year by POLLAB.The main topic at XIX POLLABtheSymposium (2013) was „Managingmeasurement results in a testing andcalibration laboratory”. heTsymposium was attended by over 400participants n two roundsi .We organized also special section'smeetings, including invited lecturesdedicated to selected subjects.In 2013 there were two meetings,where participants discussed about„PT/ILC programs and requirementsof accreditation”.W alsoe organized 2 rounds ILCprograms in 2013.

In 2014 Eurachem-PL intend toscontinue present policy to supportthelaboratories. The members will attendthe SPOLLAB ymposium, sectionmeetings and new ILC/PT programs.

Andrzej Brzyski

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Romania

EURACHEM Romania recordedactive members from the followinginstitutions:- teaching staff from universities

(University of Bucharest, PolitehnicaUniversity of Bucharest,Transylvania University of Brasov,Ovidius University of Constanta,University of Iasi, TechnicalUniversity of Iasi etc.)

- researchers from various researchinstitutes (INCDSB, ICECHIM, INMRetc.)

- specialists from national and/or localagencies for environmentalmonitoring, for public heath, fromnational accreditation bod RENARy ( )

- practitioners from specialized andaccredited laboratories

The main activities of EURACHEMRomania Association in 2013 were:- t and thehe annual FORUM General

Assembly- EURACHEM Informative Bulletin

no.17 (11 pages)- Translation of VIM-3- Translation of 3rd edition Eurachem /

CITAC Guide QuantifyingUncertainty in AnalyticalMeasurement into Romanianlanguage

- C uontinuo s development of the website http://www.eurachem.ro in orderto assure a constant and dynamicinformation of our collaborators.

N areew activities oriented towardssustain g the young generation toincome forward science organizingto ,professional contests for students.In November 201 the Professional3Students' Competition - Analytical andCo-ordinative Chemistry, was held.

Members of EURACHEM Romaniaare in specialized panels involved inthe evaluation activities of RENAR,the Romanian AccreditationAssociation hey are also co-. Toperating with the NationalMetrological Institute.Common efforts to attract materialresources being supported byareRENAR, the Romanian AccreditationAssociation and local companiesdeveloping activities in analyticalinstrumentation area.

Gabriel-Lucian Radu

Russia

There are more than 300 thousandanalytical chemists Oin Russia. nbehalf of them we congratulateEurachem on the anniversary.The whole year the signstood underof change associated with thereversal of the legal basis. Since July1, 2014 the entire field of conformityassessment and accreditedlaboratories will work newunder adocument nd of last year, the. EPresident of Russian Federationsigned the “Accreditation in thenational system of accreditation" .lawThe thereforming of accreditationsystem in Russia carried out withisthe support of colleagues from theEuropean Union. The success of theRussian system of accreditationreform will appear in growing trustatowards ouranalytical results ofnational laboratories and to the realpossibility of establishing a free tradearea from Lisbon to Vladivostok.O thene of main metrological centersof Russia Ural Scientific Instituteis theof Metrology- Specialwww.uniim.ru.mention should be made of theimportant role of the ProficiencyTesting Working Group for thepurposes of assessment of thetechnical performance ofmeasurement and testing laboratoriesin Russia. UNIIM Working GroupThepropose to SAWG CCQM tod theorganize comparison in the field ofameasurements of porositycharacteristics (specific adsorption,surface area, specific volume andpore diameter). Primary pilotcomparisons will be organized for notonly national metrology institutes, butfor other organizations having skillsand experience in this area. Thosewishing to may send anparticipateapplication to: .251@uniim.ru

ommon interests and issues ofCanalysts in the industry of preciousmetals led to a necessity for adevelopment of branch-wiseareference materials service ofprecious metals and alloys. Pleasecontact the Ekaterinburg non-ferrousmetal processing plantgorbatova@ezocm.ru for information.The Association of Analytical Centersof Russia "Analitica" offered to open aspecial page on the own portal isthatdevoted to activities of the Eurachemin the Russian language.

Baranovskaya Vasilisa

Slovakia

The main activity of EURACHEMSlovakia (ES) is the transfer ofinformation from the Eurachemresources to the analyticallaboratories in the Slovak Republic(SR) and increasing the professionallevel in the SR.This transfer is realized by translatingsome guides from English into Slovaklanguage organizingand byprofessional seminars on currenttopic for in quality control ands peoplemetrology and especially foraccredited bodies of SR. theseDuringseminars participants are acquaintedwith andactivities professional eventsorganized by working groups of theES. Slovak Accreditation BodyTheaccepts these professional seminarsas a one of the form of staff trainingsof accredited bodies.Over the last year E organizedS hastwo seminars etrological, one on mtraceability of chemicalmeasurements he second one was, tfocused on ensuring the quality of themeasurement results in the testinglaboratory - Evaluation ofExperimental Data in QualitativeAnalysis. Participants obtained allmaterial in electronic form. Among itwas the third revised edition ofQuantification of Uncertainty inAnalytical Measurement i Slovaknlanguage.Recently there has been a significantshift in membership of ES. In part itwas related organizational changestoin the Slovak Institute of Metrology, inthe Slovak National AccreditationService and departure ofdue to thesome members from the mentionedinstitutions. A result of these changeswas the absence of ourrepresentatives at the Annual Meetingin 2013. In the first quarter of 2014,there has been a reorganization of theES Committee. The chairman of theES became Dr. Pavel Májek fromInstitute of Analytical Chemistry,

Faculty of Chemical and FoodTechnology, Slovak University ofTechnology in Bratislava and Dr.Zuzana Ďurišová from the SlovakInstitute of Metrology .is the secretaryBoth members of the ES will berepresent ES externallying theincluding EURACHEM AnnualMeeting.

Pawel Májek

Zuzana Ďurišová

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Spain

During 2013, Eurachem Spain hasbeen involved in the followingactivities:1. Working Group Validation ofMethods: attended meeting in Helsinkito prepare the Guide for singlevalidation of chemical methods.2. Working Group of Education andTraining : attended meeting in Helsinkito review survey results on trainingprovision and needs for metrology inchemistry and biochemistry in testinglaboratories, as well as the translationof the VIM, Quality Assurancebibliography and the revision of 'Guideto Quality in Analytical Chemistry: AnAid to Accreditation'.3. Review and comments for theGuide of Accreditation forMicrobiological Laboratories.4. Eurolab Spain has upgraded itswebsite to include the link toEurachem website.5. Final translation of technical paperNordtest 567 on quality control inanalytical laboratories.6. Translation leaflets: Use ofuncertainty information in complianceassessment and Pre- and Post-analytical Proficiency Testing.7. Speech at the IELAB Conferenceon internal quality control - December2013 Barcelona-Spain.8. Spread Eurachem activities andworkshops throughout Eurolab SpainMembers, the Regional Net of PublicLaboratories in Madrid and theSpanish Society of AnalyticalChemistry.9. Spread information aboutEurachem activities into the monthlyNewsletter of Eurolab Spain.10.Training courses performed (18):- Management and TechnicalRequirements of ISO 17025: 4- ISO 17025 audits: 2- Quality Assurance: 5- Uncertainty estimation: 4 (one ofthem about microbiology testing)- Equipment calibration: 1- Validation of methods: 1- Reference materials: 111.Collaboration with the NationalBody Accreditation (ENAC) in thereviewing of Document for validationof microbiological an the Selection oftesting methods

Sweden

In Sweden we have a joint nationalEurolab and Eurachem organisationwith 26 members representing over100 companies.We take active part in the followingwork:

· Eurachem and Eurolabworking groups

· The laboratory committee ofEA and ILAC

· The ILAC accreditationcommittee

· The advisory board of theSwedish accreditation body,Swedac

During 2013 we held 2 membermeetings focussing mainly onaccreditation and measurementquality issues such as:

· Calibration – new demandsdue to ILAC P10

· Validation· How to deal with and follow

up wrong reporting to clients· Review of contracts

We also held the Eurachemsecretariat during 2013.

Bertil Magnusson andMagnus Holmgren

Turkey

The training group in the ChemistryGroup Lab in UME in collaborationwith EC JRC IRMM ProgrammeTranMIC has organised a trainMICtraining event in Gebze/Kocaeli (19th-20th of December 2013), covering avariety of topics. The course wasattended by 24 participants. Thepresentation were given in Turkish bythe TrainMIC trainers from Turkey.In addition training on methodvalidation and uncertainty in chemicalmeasurement was organised in UMEon 6th-10th of May 2013, 12th-16 thof November 2013, and 9th-10thDecember 2013. The training course,which included lectures, practicalexercises and learning evaluation,was attended by 44 participants.

Eurachem leaflets were translated toTurkish language; Proficiency testingleaflet : “How can proficiency testinghelp my laboratory” and Complianceleaflet: “Use of uncertainty informationin compliance assessment”. Thetranslation of the “QuantifyingUncertainty in AnalyticalMeasurement” guide in Turkish is intoprogress.

EURACHEM Turkey contributes to theEurachem W s: Education &Training,GUncertainty and Trac ability andeMethod Validation.

Several lectures were presented inconferences covering the followingtopics : “External quality control andproficiency testing”,“ ncertainty inUchemical measurement”, “ ethodMvalidation and measurementuncertainty in chromatography,“ ethod validation and measurementMuncertainty in ICPMS, “ ethodMvalidation and measurementuncertainty in IC techniques”, “ heTimportance of use and production ofSRM” at the 1st national laboratoryaccreditation and safety semposiumon 16-18 May 2013 in Istanbul.

“Method validation and measurementuncertainty in determination ofAspartame in drug” at the chemistry ofdrug conference on 29-31 March2013 in Antalya/Turkiye.

“The Importance of Metrology inChemical Measurements”, at the 2ndCongress of International AssociationFor Forensic Science Institutes“Challenges In Forensic Sciences”, on23-26th October 2013,Istanbul/Turkiye

“Production and Certification ofReference Material For Aflatoxin InDried Fig: Feasibility Study”, at theEurofoodchem XVII conference, 07-10 May 2013, Istanbul/ Turkey

“Primary Level pH MeasurementSystem and Uncertainty Estimation'',at the 10th InternationalElectrochemistry Meeting, 4-8September 2013, Konya/Turkey

Mine Bilsel

13

Ukraine

In November 2013 a workshop Safetyand Quality of Food Products washeld under the auspices of theMinistry of Agrarian Policy and Foodof Ukraine.Different aspects of food productstesting were considered, includinglegislation and normative documents.

Among others, Eurachem GuideTerminology in AnalyticalMeasurement – Introduction to VIM 3and its translation were presented.

A Draft translation of the Eurachemleaflet How can proficiency testinghelp my laboratory? into Ukrainianwas prepared and sent to Eurachemfor publication.

Ovsiy Levbarg

the Eurachem Newsletter andinformation on Eurachem activities.Activities associated with the UKChemical and BiologicalMeasurement programme aredescribed on the programme websiteat http://www.nmschembio.org.uk/.Activities of particular interest toEurachem in the year ending May2013 include a range of trainingcourses, including courses onmeasurement uncertainty, analyticalmethod validation, method validationfor biologists, statistics for analyticalchemists and design of experiments.The programme also providesguidance documents and reports;these can be found on the websiteabove. The most recent are the“Guide to achieving reliablequantitative LC-MS measurement”and the new “Good Practice Guide forthe application of Quantitative PCR(qPCR)”Eurachem UK members have alsocontributed actively to the EurachemPT working group, E&T workinggroup, Measurement Uncertainty andTraceability and Validation workinggroups.

Steve Ellison

U Knited ingdom

Eurachem activity in the UK iscoordinated between the AnalyticalMethods Committee of the RoyalSociety of Chemistry (AMC), andthrough LGC, who lead the UKChemical and BiologicalMeasurement programme.The AMC (http://www.rsc.org/ AMC/)has sub-committees concerned withsampling uncertainty/sampling quality,statistical methods and validation [ofanalytical methods] all of whichcomplement interests and concerns ofEurachem. The AMC continues topublish Technical Briefs which reachall members of the analytical divisionof the RSC and are on-line for all toaccess and use: Briefs can be foundby following the 'Technical Briefs' linkat . Topicsh� p://www.rsc.org /AMC/for recent Technical Briefs include“Checking the quality of contracted-out analysis”, “Experimental designand optimisation (4): Placket -Burmantdesigns”, “What causes most errors inchemical analysis?”, “An introductionto non-parametric statistics” and“Estimating sampling uncertainty –how many duplicates are required?”Members of the AMC regularly receive

NEWS * NEWS * NEWS * NEWS

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on measurement uncertainty

estimation

During Mar 03 - Apr 16, 2014 the MOOC "Estimation of measurement uncertainty in chemical analysis"(sisu.ut.ee/measurement/) was offered by University of Tartu. The course eventually had 270 participants from morethethan 40 countries. 141 participants successfully completed the course, making the completion rate 52%, which is verygood for a MOOC, especially one that has quite difficult calculation exercises.The participant feedback was very positive and we are glad that evidently we were able to offer something that is reallyneeded by people who do chemical analysis in their everyday work, as many of our participants *do*. The participantswere very active and asked lots of questions. These were often very much to the point and addressed things that arereally important to analysts in their everyday work. The course had several forums (general and by topic) and the overallnumber of posts to *forums* during the course period reached beyond 300! (overall number containing posts fromparticipants and teachers).This active participation made teaching this MOOC a great experiencealso for the teachers. The discussion threads gave a lot of added valueto the course and some of them triggered making important modificationsto the course materials. It is planned to repeat this course again in spring 2015.

The course material is open to the publicsisu.ut.ee/measurement/

Ivo LeitoUniversity of Tartu

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To Measure was aPleasure, Casablanca

The 7th edition of the SummerSchool, core activity of theEuroMaster® Programme onMeasurement Science in Chemistry,http://www.msc-euromaster.eu/, tookplace between the 27 of July and theth

9 of August 2014th in Casablanca /Morocco.The enthusiasm shared by ourcolleagues of the Ecole Superieure del'Industrie du Textile et Habillement-ESITH, which housed the event, wasdecisive for .choosing the location

It has certainly been an experience inmany respects for the teachers but to,the 40 European, Moroccan andTunisian students selected toparticipate represents a, this courseland mark in their careers. They wereaware that this was a uniqueopportunity to from activebenefitlearning of a modern scientificperspective of Analytical Chemistry ina truly international environment.The Programme of activities has beenorganized along the LearningObjectives revised and updatedaccording to the experience gainedthrough the previous edition .sTen groups of four startedstudentswith an apparently trivial mission ofmeasuring the salinity of the seawaterfrom Casablanca beaches at tendifferent locations. The training aimedat measuring skills and data treatmentand interpretation raceability,, tv malidation and easurementu andncertainty, providing results ofquality fit for the purpose of theirintended use.The already classical laboratory gameof client-customer interaction wasplayed too as well as the simulatedThe visit as auditors to an accreditedlaboratory ultiple reports, presen. M -tations and written examination wereprogressively accomplished andassessed.All the hard work by the experiencedteachers and the effort to providel paid off and oneaboratory facilitiescan be confident that an enthusiasticnew generation professionalsof willbe future needscapable of answeringof .societyIt was not trivial, but after work, it wasparty time!

Maria Filomena CamõesMSC Coordinator

NMKL orkshopW ,Copenhagen

NMKL and Eurachem arranged a jointworkshop on MeasurementUncertainty (MU) for Chemical Foodand Feed Analysis, 29-30 September2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

General aspects on MU, the relationbetween MU and bias, estimation ofMU from sampling, estimation of MUin multi-component analyticalmethods and in non-destructiveanalytical methods were presented,as well as fitness for purpose,thecompliance assessment andaccessible online MU course andsoftware.

The about 30 attendees were fromDenmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway,Sweden and Slovenia. On the secondday of the workshop, there wereroundtable discussions. It becameclear mostthat laboratories estimateMU, some express MU whenandreporting the result while others,forward it on request.onlyFew laboratories correct routinely forany observed bias owever if the. H ,bias could be attributed to recovery,several laboratories did include acorrection. Some laboratories hadexperience in estimating MU fromsampling.

NMKL gives a special thank to theEurachem delegates BertilMagnusson, Joakim Engman andWolfhard Wegscheider for their effortand contribution to this workshop.

This was the first joint NMKL-Eurachem workshop, and based onthe success, it should not be the last.

Hilde Skår NorliNMKL Secretary General

CROLAB, Sibenik

Crolab is the Croatian association oflabs across Croatia, having about 189labs as members, including theirNational accreditation body. Inconsequence and interestattendancein the conference were quite high.There were from theofficialsministries - economy and technology,and also a Presidential Counsellorand a video with thea greeting from zPresident f Croatia towards Crolabowas given.

The presentation of Eurachem was onthe first day of the conference. It wasvery ell receivedw and during the nextdiscussions "Klub" of AnalyticaltheChemistry the decision to join thetookMethod Validation Working Group ofEurachem, declared intentionwith theto be involved.actively

It is a sad thing that hardly any Crolabparticipants can attend Eurachemconferences and workshops due tofinancial constraints. In order toovercome this I to Crolabsuggestedthat it would to try to organizehelpfula a inworkshop or training coursesCroatia in connection with naEurachem .General Assembly Theresponse was favourable and it might

be possible to organize the 2017

GA of Eurachem in Croatia inconnection with a workshop on a topicof local interest.

n the last day of conferenceO I gave apresentation about Lisbon .the GAThe Eurachem poster was put at theentrance conference roomof the .

Jointly to this Conference Crolab heldtheir GA and a Forum on QA inAnalytical Chemistry Laboratories aswell had a chance to highlight. I thesupport that Eurachem could give in ashort speech and emphasized thenecessity for Crolab to come closer toEurachem.I do hope that Crolab will be presentfrom now on on Eurachem activities,and there are good chances forCrolab to organize Eurachem GA2017.

Eugenia Eftimie Totu

15

Eurachem Member CountriesContact Points

Eurachem Secretariat

Alessandra Meixnersecretariat@eurachem.org

Chair

Wolfhard WegscheiderMontanuniversität LeobenFranz Josef Straße 18A 8700 Leobenwegschei@unileoben.ac.at

Vice Chair

David MildePalacky UniversityDepartment of Analytical Chemistry17. Listopadu 1277146 Olomucdavid.milde@upol.cz

Past Chair

Bertil MagnussonSP Technical Research Institute ofSwedenBertil.magnusson@sp.se

To get involved in Eurachem inyour nation, contact theEurachem secretariat fordetails on how to contact yournational representatives or visitthe Eurachem websitewww.eurachem.org.

© All rights reserved. No part if this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or any means,electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording of any retrieval system, without the written permissionof the copyright holder.

Eurachem countries in green,Cyprus and associate memberGeorgia not displayed

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