Salient features of the inquiry

Around 1600 European laboratories responded to the questionnaire (Table 5.3). From the answers received in the different countries, it was clear that many laboratories are not familiar with the term CRM and that confusion exists between certified and non-certified reference materials, between matrix RMs and calibrants. Besides RMs and CRMs it also became clear that many laboratories were not aware of the existence and even the meaning of proficiency testing. 

The majority of laboratories that responded to the questionnaire (34%) were public laboratories, followed by industry (24%) and private testing laboratories (23%). Environment was the largest field of analysis covered by the study (26%), followed by food and feed-stuffs (20%). Tables 5.3, 5.4 and 5.5 give details on the profile of the 

FIELD OF ANALYSIS OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE INQUIRY ON CRM AND COUNTRY OF ORIGIN 

Country Environ Food Agricul. Health/ Safety Chemical Ores/ Mineral Fuel Polymer Pure metals Other indust. prod. 

The needs expressed for CRMs/RMs by the laboratories contacted are very wide and were summarised in the form of a list per analytical sector, as given in Table 5.7. Only clearly identified matrices/chemical parameters are listed. From this table, it can be concluded that the environment and food/agriculture fields generated the largest variety of requests. Other comments were related to the high prices of CRMs and the need for Laboratory Reference Materials fit for purpose to respond to urgent needs (small stock of defined shelf life). More instructions are deemed necessary on how to use the CRMs and better information on suppliers, types of materials etc. is also needed. It seems that many laboratories do not know how to find their way in the broad supply of RMs of very different — and often unknown — quality. 

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