Accreditation schemes

Names and training records of staff involved in sampling and analysis, or details of contract analysts and any quality standards/accreditation schemes with which they comply. 

From the mid 1980 s the rise of Quahty Standards, Total Quahty Management and Accreditation schemes created a booming demand for RMs and CRMs. Thus, the use and production of matrix RMs rapidly increased the new IAEA database lists 56 producers from 22 cormtries and about 1640 RMs. The 1998 Comar database, which covers a much wider scope, hsts more than 200 producers and around 10 000 RMs see Chapter 8 for more details. 

This chapter aims to illustrate the role and importance of ethical (fair) trade in the agricultural production chain. Towards that, we will initially analyse the organic market and will illustrate the role of the accreditation schemes and the local certification bodies. This is followed by a section on ethical (fair) trade discussing the evolution of the concept(s) and their association with organic production. The last sections examine the view of the stakeholders and selected supply chain members in relation to ethical (fair) trade, before drawing relevant conclusions. 

STL are accredited by the Department of Trade and Industry via the National Measurement Accreditation Scheme (NAMAS). This covers all aspects of laboratory operations, such as organization of the laboratory and methodology, equipment and staff training, quahty-control systems and storage of data. The company acquired the first accreditation in the UK for the analysis of organic compounds by GC-MS. It also operates appropriate procedures to conform with the Department of Health s Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) recommendations. 

The laboratories are inspected annually by the National Measurement Accreditation Scheme (NAMAS) and for conformity to GLP. Part of the inspection is a vertical audit, which involves tracing a sample from the moment it is dehvered to the laboratory to when the result is reported. All the records of its passage through the system are traced. For... 

Accreditation schemes have lately found much favour and it is expected that use of such schemes will increase. Unfortunately, at the moment, these schemes are reduced to mere indications that defined procedures have been followed, and they do not guarantee that rehable results are always achieved. It is to be hoped that such schemes will be enhanced to give full confidence to the laboratory customer. 

Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme Entidad Mexicana de Acreditacidn Raad voor Accreditatie... 

Bureau of Product Standards Laboratory Accreditation Scheme Polish Centre for Accreditation Romanian Accreditation Association... 

The most powerful tool to minimise the component of variance due to error in the laboratory is the discipline which recognised accreditation schemes bring. They encompass all the likely areas which produce mistakes, documented procedures, training, checking procedures, control of samples, monitoring conditions, formal audits and perhaps above all calibration. The general quality movement has produced pressures to make laboratory accreditation commonplace and as more laboratories reach this status it must be expected that reproducibility will improve. In the current economic climate, a problem is finding sufficient laboratories able to devote sufficient time to precision trials. 

Festing, M. F. (1974) Genetic monitoring of laboratory mouse colonies in the Medical Research Council Accreditation Scheme... 

While the establishment and implementation of national traceability systems is left to the countries and their legislation, the mutual recognition of these national systems calls for an international mechanism, at least if worldwide mutual recognition is aimed at. The MRA of the Meter Convention for national measurement standards and calibration and measurement certificates issued by NMIs [2] can be expected to at least provide for one important aspect of the task, namely the establishment of international equivalence at the national standards level. Together with the success of the work currently carried out by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) for the harmonization of national laboratory accreditation schemes, the MRA will be the key to comparability and hence to ac-... 

In conclusion, it seems probable that, with the exception of unrefined oils and lecithin, there is no likelihood of detection of the presence of GM oils in most of the vegetable oils traded throughout the world in the foreseeable future. The only way to ensure that oils are authentic would be a complex, comprehensive and expensive scheme inspection and accreditation scheme, including the analysis of all batches of the source oilseed. This does not seem a likely possibility. 

Who are the likely winners and losers from the proposed subsidies Can their support for the scheme be achieved In the process of gathering information on the roles and interests of various stakeholders in the health problem, opportunities may arise to identify potential partnerships and to float the idea of a voucher scheme with potential partners. How open is the ministry of health to a scheme that effectively breaks its provider monopoly over the use of subsidies How willing would private providers be to entering into a partnership with the public sector, to bid for a contract, to accept vouchers as payment, to sign contracts for services, to follow a strict patient management protocol, to participate in an accreditation scheme Assessing different stakeholders reactions can provide a valuable input to the next phase, the feasibility assessment. 

Such test guidelines often form a key part of a laboratory s formal quality assurance procedure (e.g. Good Laboratory Practice or other formal accreditation schemes) and enable test results to be audited. However, to be fully effective these quality assurance procedures need to take account of the performance characteristics of the test (quality control). Such considerations form the basis of the following section. 

While it may thus be possible that in certain areas, the different quality systems may be similar to one another, it has nevertheless to be recognised that neither the adherence to an ISO or accreditation standard may replace GLP compliance (for this aspect see the respective OECD Position Paper), nor can a GLP compliant test facility claim the same technical competence as a laboratory operating under an accreditation scheme. However, the existing redundancies in the different sets of rules can make it possible to implement two such quality systems in one laboratory utilising the common points of the two systems to facilitate the tasks of personnel and quality management. The same can be true for the official compliance monitoring inspections and audits, where audit or inspection results of aspects that are fully covered by one system may be accepted by the other without further investigation. 

In summary it can be stated that, although GLP differs from other quality systems in aspects that are important not only for the traceability of data but especially for the full reconstructability of the study, there are certain overlaps between GLP and other quality systems like accreditation schemes which may allow some joining of forces , at least to a certain extent. 

The laboratory analyses were performed by the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR), Laboratory Endocrinology Department at Westmead Hospital in Sydney, using the Ohashi microplate method (Ohashi et at, 2000), based on the Sandel—Kolthoff reaction. This laboratory complies with ISO/IEC 17025 under the accreditation scheme of the National Association of Testing Authorities and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. 

In the Japanese accreditation scheme, either domestic or foreign bodies, which have been pre-registered with the MAFF, provide accreditation to producers, processors, re-packers and importers who are to handle accredited organic products. Those accredited inspect the would-be organic products and issue the label JAS organic and then, allow it to be sent to the market if the products meet accredited standards. Thus, the scheme traces all the processes from producers to consumers and ensures that the products be organically produced, processed, and packed. 

Figure 2. Accreditation Scheme (b) Exports accredited by foreign accredited bodies...

The demand for higher quality has produced pressures to make laboratory accreditation commonplace, and as more laboratories reach this status it must be expected that reproducibility will improve. The calibration of test machines, training, documentation of test procedures, sample control, and formal audits all have an enormous influence, and the discipline involved in maintaining an accredited status helps to minimize mistakes and maintain reproducibility. International agreements undoubtedly widen the scope of accreditation schemes and ensure uniform levels of accreditation. This is found to have an influence on the standard of laboratories with a consequent improxement in interlaboratory comparisons. 

Most national laboratory accreditation schemes have adopted this standard, which establishes the process not only as third-party audit, but an... 

Industry Experience is more blurred. It may be considered acceptable for someone with aerospace avionics experience to work on elements of a rail signalling system and vice versa. However, the nuclear industry requires nuclear experience. An organization could break into a new industry by employing new staff with relevant experience and providing evidence of infrastructure, culture, processes and procedures (perhaps through professional accreditation schemes). 

A national accreditation scheme - based on BS ISO 17020 - has been established for inspection bodies under the aegis of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). Inspection bodies operating within this scheme are required to establish and maintain a quality system within their scope of activities which is subject to ongoing assessment by UKAS. The scheme is supported by HSE and provides a good benchmark for the owners or users of plant to use if and when subcontracting inspections by a competent person to another company. 

---