The EA LC met on 18-19 September 2013 in Brussels, Belgium, with the participation of 55 delegates.
Following the March workshop on Opinions & Interpretations which highlighted a need for harmonization, a survey was conducted during summer. Its results confirmed the preliminary conclusion that guidance should be developed. In particular, it appears that boundaries for accreditation of opinions & interpretations should be defined, and that the difference between opinions & interpretations and product certification should be clarified. The appointed TFG came up with a first draft guidance which was presented to the Committee in September. Comments have been invited until the next meeting in March 2014.
Work is also ongoing with regards to the extension of the EA MLA to cover accreditation of proficiency testing providers and reference materials producers in accordance with ISO/IEC 17043 and ISO Guide 34. The Laboratory Committee appointed 2 EA representatives to participate in the APLAC November Workshop.
The two WGs ILC in Calibration and Testing held back-to-back meetings in March 2013. The objective was to facilitate a joint session of both WGs to discuss items of common interest, such as implementation of the EA Strategy on ILCs and how to improve further synergies for work within the 2 groups. The outcome of the session was that strategic issues are not the same in both areas; PT providers are not the same type of bodies in both fields and issues related to availability of PTs vary
rom one field to the other. Finally, the 2 WGs do not have the same members. All this led the Committee to confirm that the merge of the WGs would not be relevant. However it was decided to continue to hold the meetings back-to-back, as far as possible for the host ABs.
The Convener of the TFG of the WG Health Care in charge presented the proposed draft guidance on Point of Care Testing (POCT). The draft has been circulated for comments within the LC for review at the March 2014 meeting. Training about the new ISO 15189 has been planned in 2014.
Upon proposal by the Technical Network Food and Feed, the LC approved GMO guidance prepared jointly with the European Network of GMO Laboratories (ENGL). The document will be published by EA with the status of a technical, advisory document.
The Committee decided also to publish two documents by EWDTS, the European Workplace Drug Testing Society: Guidelines for legally defensible workplace drug testing – Specimen collection procedures and Drug and alcohol testing in hair – Collection and analysis. The 2 documents will have the status of technical, advisory documents.
The next LC meeting will take place 12-13 March 2014 in Valletta, Malta.