Meeting of Sampling and Pesticide Working Groups

First meetings of Sampling and Pesticide Working Groups were held on 27th July and 20th July 2010 respectively at the premises of the Accreditation Board of Serbia (ATS).

The Sampling Working Group (WG), just like the Pesticide WG, is composed of the representatives of the interested parties: accredited bodies, universities, and a representative of the Standing Technical Laboratory Committee.

Sampling Working Group

The Sampling Working Group was established with a task of developing appropriate documents describing sampling activities and defining criteria when sampling activities need to be accredited as per the requirements of SRPS ISO/IEC 17025:2006,

A need to develop these documents arose from positive experiences of other accreditation bodies that are members of the European Cooperation for Accreditation (EA), whereby taking into consideration the importance and role of sampling. It is known that “not even the best tests in the world cannot eliminate errors made during sampling process” which indirectly signals the seriousness and indisputable competence that must be demonstrated when performing this activity.

The next task of the Sampling WG is to make a draft Guide on the Accreditation of Sampling Process that will be discussed during the next meeting.

Pesticide Working Group

Items of the Pesticide WG meeting agenda were as follows:
- Guidelines on the Description of the Scope of Accreditation of Testing Laboratories, ATS-UP03, and
- Rules for the Participation in Inter-laboratory Comparisons and Proficiency Testing Schemes, ATS-PA02, a review of pesticides.

The Pesticide Residue WG agree that the ATS documents (Guidelines on the Description of the Scope of Accreditation of Testing Laboratories, ATS-UP03, and Rules for the Participation in Inter-laboratory Comparisons and Proficiency Testing Schemes, ATS-PA02) have to provide a more accurate stand on how to describe the pesticide residue in the Schedule of Accreditation, and frequency of participating in recognised PT schemes. A follow-up meeting was scheduled for September 2010.