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It has been a busy six months for Eurachem, despite the ongoing challenges presented by the pandemic. Travel restrictions meant that once again the General Assembly week and associated workshop in May were virtual events, rather than in Prague as we had hoped. Organised by Eurachem-Czech Republic, the workshop on ‘Trends and challenges in ensuring quality in analytical measurements’ discussed experiences with the revised ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and issues related to ensuring quality in medical laboratories, presented current Eurachem activities in the field of analytical quality assurance, and discussed future challenges from both research and practical perspectives. Copies of the workshop presentations are available on the Eurachem website and recordings are available on our YouTube channel.

Eurachem currently has three events in the diary for 2022 and we hope that those scheduled as face-to-face activities will be able to go ahead as planned:

  • 19-17 January 2022 – free online workshop on ‘Assessment of performance and uncertainty in qualitative chemical analysis’ in collaboration with CITAC and hosted by Singapore Health Sciences Authority (HSA). See https://www.eurachem.org/index.php/events/workshops/394-wks-aqa2022 for details.
  • 16-17 May 2022, Tbilisi, Georgia – workshop on ‘Quality assurance challenges of measurements from field to laboratory with a focus on ISO/IEC17025: 2017 requirements’. The workshop, organised by Eurachem-Georgia, will form part of the annual General Assembly week.
  • 26-29 September 2022, Windsor, UK – 10th Eurachem Workshop on ‘Proficiency Testing in analytical chemistry, microbiology and laboratory medicine’. Registration for this popular event is open at https://eurachem-pt2022.org/.

The Eurachem Working Groups have continued to be active in developing and updating guidance documents. The 2nd edition of the Eurachem/CITAC guide on ‘Use of uncertainty information in compliance assessment’ was published in April. This edition has been amended to take into account the developments in a number of documents including ILAC G8 (Guidelines on decision rules and statements of conformity) and JCGM 106 (Evaluation of measurement data – The role of measurement uncertainty in conformity assessment). The Measurement Uncertainty and Traceability Working Group has also published an updated information leaflet on the use of uncertainty information in compliance assessment to accompany the guide.

The evaluation of uncertainties associated with sampling is an ongoing area of interest for many laboratories. The Sampling Uncertainty Working Group, in collaboration with the Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Methods Committee (AMC) Sampling Uncertainty Working Group, recently published a new leaflet explaining the concept of the uncertainty factor (https://www.eurachem.org/index.php/publications/leaflets/uncertainty-factor).

Finally, work developing guidance on ‘Assessment of performance and uncertainty in qualitative chemical analysis’ is well advanced with a new guide expected to be published shortly.

In addition to its network of member countries, Eurachem also works through liaisons with stakeholder organisations that share common interests in measurement quality. In recent months the Eurachem Executive has been working to refresh and formalise its relationship with a number of key organisations. The first output of this activity was the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding with NMKL (Nordic Committee on Food Analysis) on 16 August. The MoU provides a framework for future collaboration, with a view to optimising resources to ensure maximum benefit for both organisations’ members and the wider analytical community.

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