European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL)
- Tasks
- Laboratories
- Analytical tasks
- Reference laboratories
- European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL)
The Reference Laboratories of the European Union (EURL) are subject to the financial and technical supervision of the European Commission, Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG SANTE). Each Reference Laboratory is responsible for certain substances. Among others, the tasks of the EURLs are to develop and to validate test methods, to carry out arbitral analyses, to provide advice to the European Commission and to support the National Reference Laboratories. Moreover, they promote the harmonisation of the proficiency of the laboratories, thus helping to avoid market distortions in the Single European Market.
The EURLs act as an intersection between the European Commission and the National Reference Laboratories of the EU Member States. Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards EURLs lays down in detail the tasks of the EURL. Article 94 of the Regulation states:
“European Union reference laboratories designated in accordance with Article 93(1) shall be responsible for the following tasks...:
a) providing national reference laboratories with details and guidance on the methods of laboratory analysis, testing or diagnosis, including reference methods;
b) providing reference materials to national reference laboratories;
c) coordinating the application by the national reference laboratories and, if necessary, by other official laboratories of the methods referred to in point (a), in particular, by organising regular inter-laboratory comparative testing or proficiency tests and by ensuring appropriate follow-up of such comparative testing or proficiency tests in accordance, where available, with internationally accepted protocols, and informing the Commission and the Member States of the results and follow-up to the inter-laboratory comparative testing or proficiency tests;
d) coordinating practical arrangements necessary to apply new methods of laboratory analysis, testing or diagnosis, and informing national reference laboratories of advances in this field;
e) conducting training courses for staff from national reference laboratories and, if needed, from other official laboratories, as well as of experts from third countries;
f) providing scientific and technical assistance to the Commission within the scope of their mission;
g) providing information on relevant national, Union and international research activities to national reference laboratories;
h) collaborating within the scope of their mission with laboratories in third countries and with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC);
i) assisting actively in the diagnosis of outbreaks in Member States of foodborne, zoonotic or animal diseases, or of pests of plants, by carrying out confirmatory diagnosis, characterisation and taxonomic or epizootic studies on pathogen isolates or pest specimens;
j) coordinating or performing tests for the verification of the quality of reagents and lots of reagents used for the diagnosis of foodborne, zoonotic or animal diseases and pests of plants;
k) where relevant for their area of competence, establishing and maintaining:
i) reference collections of pests of plants and/or reference strains of pathogenic agents;
ii) reference collections of materials intended to come into contact with food used to calibrate analytical equipment and provide samples thereof to national reference laboratories;
iii) up-to-date lists of available reference substances and reagents and of manufacturers and suppliers of such substances and reagents; and
l) where relevant for their area of competence, cooperate among themselves and with the Commission, as appropriate, to develop methods of analysis, testing or diagnosis of high standards.“
The EURL at the BVL is responsible for the following substance groups:
- beta-agonists (pharmacologically active substances which, in certain dosages, can be used to increase the fattening performance of animals)
- substances active against worm infestations (anthelmintics)
- substances active against unicellular parasites (anticoccidials including nitroimidazoles)
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID)
The BVL draws up annual work programmes in cooperation with the European Commission (DG SANTE). The work programmes of the EURL at the BVL as well as of the other EURLs can be accessed on the DG SANTE website.
An important instrument in the attempt to achieve and to document harmonised proficiency with regard to the official control laboratories in the EU is the regular organisation of proficiency tests (interlaboratory studies). For this purpose, identical sample material is sent to the NRLs responsible for the respective substance groups in the different Member States. The NRLs are obliged to participate in these tests. The samples are analysed with the routine test methods available at the respective laboratories.
The evaluation of the results from these tests shows whether the range of substances to be analysed is covered completely and whether the substances were identified and quantified correctly. The laboratories are informed in detail about their own results, and, in an anonymous form, about the results from the other laboratories. For the European Commission the results of this comparison provide a useful overview of the proficiency of official residue control. For the individual participating laboratories, they are a means of self-assessment regarding proficiency and thus an important contribution to quality control (in the sense of continuous improvement and the development of error-avoiding strategies).
Moreover, the EURL supports the quality assurance measures of the Member State NRLs by providing reference materials, standard substances and method descriptions of procedures developed and validated at the EURL. Annual workshops organised by the EURL for the NRLs serve to ensure a prompt dissemination of information and to promote scientific exchange.
