European Reference Materials

Some reference material producers/suppliers use different names to describe their materials. For example, a Standard Reference Material (SRM) is a certified reference material issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), while European Reference Materials (ERMs) are CRMs produced under a joint collaboration between three European reference materials producers, i.e. BAM (Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Germany), IRMM (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, Belgium) and LGC (UK). 

A catalog of Standard Reference Materials is available from SRMINFO enh.nist.gov. European Reference Materials are available from http //www.erm-crm.org. See H. Emons, J. Marriott, and R. Matchatt,... 

Information about CRMs is available from a number of sources. Many suppliers provide a database on their website. The recognized producers of CRMs in Europe are IRMM, LGC, and BAM. Information about CRMs produced by them, called European Reference Materials (ERMs). can be found on the ERM website (www. erm-crm.org). The ERMs are divided into six different categories (groups) ... 

Presented at the CERMM-3, Central European Reference Materials and Measurements Conference The function of reference materials in the measurement process, May 30-June 1, 2002, Rogaska Slatina, Slovenia... 

ERM European Reference Materials (2011) http //www.erm-crm.org/ (last accessed 08 February 2012). 

R. J. Heitzman, Veterinary Drug Residues. Residues in Food Producing Animals and their Products Reference Materials and Methods, Final Report EUR 14126EN, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities Luxembourg, 1992. 

Commission of the European Communities (1973) Reference Materials (Provisional) RM-1973-0001 or ISP-1973-01, Community Reference Bureau. 

IRMM (1999) BCR Reference Materials. Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, (IRMM) Reference Materials Unit, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Retieseweeg,... 

European Commission (1994) Guidelines for the Production and Certification of BCR Reference Materials. European Commission Doc. BCR/48/93, Brussels. 

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, IRMM (1999) BCR Reference Materials 1999. 

Marchandise H, Vandendriessche S (1985) The Certification of the Impurity Contents (Ag, As, Bi, Cd, Ni, Sb, Se, Sn, Te, T1 and Zn) in Three Grades of Lead, Electrolytically Refined Lead BCR No 286, Thermally Refined Lead BCR No 287, Lead with Added Impurities BCR No 288. European Commission Report EUR 9665 EN. Community Bmeau of Reference, Brussels. Merry f (1995) Reference materials for monitoring nutrients in sea water environment, approach, preparation, certification and their use in environmental laboratories. Fresenius J Anal Chem 352 148-151. 

Moens L, Verreft P, Boonen S, Vanhaecke F and Dams R (1995) Solid sampling electrothermal vaporization for sample introduction in inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Spectrochim Acta 508 463-475. Mooijman KA, In t Veld PH, Hoekstra JA, Heisterkamp SH, Havelaar AH, Notermans SHW, Roberts D, Griepink B, Maier E (1992) Development of Microbiological Reference Materials. European Commission Report EUR 14375 EN, Community Bureau of Reference, Brussels. 

Quevauviller Ph. Maiee EA, Kramer KJM (1998a) Production of Certified Reference Materials for Pollutants in Environmental Matrices. European Commission Report EUR 18157 N, CCF Academic Press, Tarbes. 

Trace elements in soils and sludges (CRMs 141R-146R 597) pp 225-232 (1998k) Chlorobi-phenyls in sewage sludge (CRM 392) pp 240-243 (1998I) Trimethyl-lead in urban dust (CRM 605) pp 274-278 In Production of Certified Reference Materials for Pollutants in Environmental Matrices. European Commission Report EUR 18157 EN, CCF Academic Press, Tarbes. 

I, 2 European Commission, Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements... 

Maier EA, Boenke A, and Meriguet P 1997) Importance of the Certified Reference Materials Programme for the European Union. Trends Anal Chem 16 496-503... 

Maechandise H, ed. (1985) New Reference Materials. Improvement of Methods of Measurements. Report EUR 9921 EN. Commission of the European Communities, Brussels. 

Quevauviller Ph (1998) Requirements for production and use of certified reference materials for speciation analysis a European Commission perspective. Spectrodiim Acta 536 1261-1279. Quevauviller Ph, and Horvat M (1999) Artifact formation of methylmercury in sediments. Anal Chem, Letter to the Editor 7i i55A-i56A. 

These reference materials are also suitable for calibration of instruments for isotopic measurements, calibration and evaluation of isotopic measurement procedures, development of isotopic measurement methods, and nuclear material accountability measurements. Many of these IRMM materials are, in fact, concerned with the last of these applications, i.e. in the area of nuclear material accountability. Some of them have been examined by a nuclear experts committee and certified as EC-NRMs (European Community - Nuclear Reference Materials). 

European Commission (1993) Guidelines for the production and preparation of BCR reference materials. Document BCR/48/93. DG XII, Brussels, Belgium. 

Chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers must establish their own internal reference materials, when no pharmacopoeial monograph exists, to satisfy the requirements of Good Manufacturing Practice (European Commission 1997). 

At the end of 1996, a collaboration agreement was signed between the European Commission and the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) for the joint IRMM/IFCC production and certification of clinical reference materials. 

In Tables 6.3 and 6.4 RMs of three major producers are mentioned, i.e. the World Health Organization (WHO, International Standards), BCR (European Union, CRMs) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, USA, SRMs). Some important national producers of clinical reference materials are the Chemicals and Inspection Testing Institute (CITI, Japan), National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC, UK), and Deutsche Gesellschaft fiir Klinische Chemie (DGKC). There are numerous commercial producers of secondary reference materials. 

Pendlington aw, Meuree-Vanlaethem N, Brookes A (i<)g6) The Method Specific Certification of the Mass Fraction of Dietary Fibre in Lyophilised Haricot Beans, Carrot, Apple, Full Fat Soya Flour and Bran Breakfast Cereal Reference Materials CRMs 514, 515, 516, 317 and 518. European Commission Report EUR 17451 EN, Luxembourg. 

The Promochem Group was the first international specialist supplier of certified reference materials (CRMs) and pharmaceutical reference substances used in environmental, medical and trace element analysis. Their experience provides a viewpoint that echoes, reinforces and expands on many of the trends discussed above (Jenks 1997). From the middle of the 1980 s, sales of CRM by Promochem increased between 10 % and 20 % annually, depending on the market sector and application. Since then National and International Metrology Institutes, such as the now privatized U.K. Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC), the European and U.S. Pharmacopoeias, the E.U. IRMM and others have recognized that efficient distribution of RMs, backed by available technical support, is as important as production and certification. Thus, they have moved to spread their influence outside their national origins. The Web and e-commerce will continue to grow as major facilitators of better information dissemination and supply of CRMs. 

The importance of adequate support by database reference material is well illustrated with the following case. After chromatographic separation (TLC, CC), the combination of >H/13C NMR, DI-MS (El), FTIR and HPLC (IJV/VIS, DAD and MS) a flame retardant in a Japanese polypropylene TV cabinet on the European market was identified as tetrabromobisphenol-,S -bis-(2,3-dibromopropyl ether) (TBBP-S) [168]. The result was verified by synthesis of reference material the product was finally identified as Non Nen 52 from Marubishi Oil Chemical Co., Ltd (Osaka), not registered in any spectral database. 

IMEP 9, Trace Elements in Water III, Cd, Certified Range 81.0-85.4 nmol l-1 , European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (EC-JRC-IRMM), Geel, Belgium (1998). [www.irmm.jrc.be/html/interlaboratory comparisons/imep/ index.htm] (accessed 30 November, 2006). 

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