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OPCW | Secretariat | |||
| Verification Division | |||||
| S/318/2002 | |||||
| 18 September 2002 | |||||
| Original: ENGLISH | |||||
| Unofficial electronic version | |||||
NOTE BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL
STATUS OF LABORATORIES DESIGNATED
FOR THE ANALYSIS OF AUTHENTIC SAMPLES
1. The Conference of the States Parties, at its First Session, established the conditions under which laboratories may seek designation (C-I/DEC.60, 61, 62, and 65, all dated 22 May 1997), and the guidelines on the designation of laboratories for the analysis of authentic samples (EC-XX/DEC.3, dated 28 June 2000).
2. When designating laboratories for the analysis of authentic samples, the Director‑General, in accordance with C-I/DEC.61 and C-I/DEC.65, takes the following into account:
(a) the validity of the laboratory’s quality system and accreditation (C-I/DEC.61), also considering the quality system and the standards used (ISO/IEC 17025:1999(E), ILAC-G 13:2000, or equivalent), as well as the accreditation body, the accreditation validity period, and the scope of the accreditation. Thelaboratory must have a proper quality system in place, and the scope of the accreditation must be relevant to the analysis of chemical warfare agents and related compounds. That is, the laboratory should have been accredited for the tasks for which it is seeking designation; [1] and
(b) whether the laboratory has performed successfully in the OPCW’s proficiency testing programme. A laboratory must participate in the proficiency testing programme at least once per calendar year. A combined rating of a laboratory’s three most recent consecutive maximum scores (three A’s, or two A’s and oneB) shall be regarded as a successful performance (see subparagraph 4(d) of C‑I/DEC.65).
3. When a designated laboratory performs unsuccessfully in a proficiency test, it is temporarily suspended. When this happens, the laboratory remains designated, but will no longer be selected by the Director-General to receive and analyse authentic samples from the OPCW (EC-XX/DEC.3). However, it may perform other tasks as defined in C‑I/DEC.67, dated 22 May 1997.
4. Following the completion of the Eleventh Official OPCW Proficiency Test, the Director‑General wishes to inform Member States of the current status of the laboratories that have been designated to analyse authentic samples. Thirteenlaboratories have retained their designated status (S/314/2002, dated 27August 2002), and out of this number, three have been temporarily suspended.
5. The thirteen designated laboratories are listed below:
| Designated laboratories | Member State |
| 1. Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Research Institute of Chemical Defence (RICD) | China2 |
| 2. Research Institute for Organic Syntheses, Centre of Ecology, Toxicology and Analytics (CETA) | Czech Republic2 |
| 3. Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (VERIFIN) | Finland |
| 4. DGA, Centre d’Etudes du Bouchet (CEB) | France |
| 5. Chemisches Zentrallabor Wehrwissenschaftliches Institut für Schutztechnologien, ABC-Schutz | Germany |
| 6. TNO Prins Maurits Laboratory (TNO-PML) | Netherlands |
| 7. Military Institute of Chemistry and Radiometry, Analytical Laboratory for Chemical Weapons Convention Verification | Poland |
| 8. GSRDC-4 Laboratory, Agency for Defence Development | Republic of Korea |
| 9. Laboratory of Military University of CBR Defence | Russian Federation3 |
| 10. Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), Division of NBC Defence | Sweden |
| 11. Defence Procurement Agency, Spiez Laboratory | Switzerland |
| 12. Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Chemical and Biological Systems, Porton Down | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
| 13. Edgewood Chemical & Biological Forensic Analytical Center | United States of America |
6. The performance ratings of the designated laboratories in the official proficiency tests are annexed to this Note.
Annex: Performance ratings of designated laboratories in official proficiencytests
PERFORMANCE RATINGS OF DESIGNATED LABORATORIES IN THE LAST ELEVEN OFFICIAL PROFICIENCY TESTS
| Laboratory | Member State | First (1996) |
Second (1996) | Third (1997) | Fourth (1998) | Fifth (1998) |
Sixth (1999) |
Seventh (2000) |
Eighth (2000) |
Ninth (2001) |
Tenth (2001) |
Eleventh (2002) |
| Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Research Institute of Chemical Defence (RICD) | China | A | A | A | –4 | A | C | A | – | – | A | – |
| Research Institute of Organic Syntheses, Centre of Ecology, Toxicology and Analytics (CETA) | Czech Republic | D | Failure | A | A | A | C | B | A | – | B | – |
| Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (VERIFIN) | Finland | A | A | A | A | – | A | A | – | – | A | A5 |
| DGA, Centre d’Etudes du Bouchet (CEB) | France | A | B | A | – | A | B | A | – | – | A | A |
| Chemisches Zentrallabor Wehrwissenschaftliches Institut für Schutztechnologien (ABC-Schutz) | Germany | C | C | A | A | A | B | A | – | A | - | A |
| TNO Prins Maurits Laboratory (TNO-PML) | Netherlands | B | A | A | B | – | A | A | A | B | A | – |
| Military Institute of Chemistry and Radiometry, Analytical Laboratory for Chemical Weapons Convention Verification | Poland | B | A | B | A | – | A | – | A | – | A | – |
| CB Department, Agency for Defence Development | Republic of Korea | A | A | A | – | A | C | A | A | B | - | A |
| Laboratory of Military University of CBR Defence of the Russian Federation | Russian Federation | A | Failure | A | Failure | A | B | A | – | – | C | – |
| Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), Division of NBC Defence | Sweden | A | A | A | – | A | B | – | A | – | A | – |
| Defence Procurement Agency, Spiez Laboratory | Switzerland | A | A | A | A | – | B | A | – | – | A | – |
| Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Chemical and Biological Systems, Porton Down | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | A | Failure | A | A | A | B | – | A | A | - | A5 |
| Edgewood Chemical & Biological Forensic Analytical Center | United States of America | A | A | A | A | – | A | A | – | B | - | A |
- - - o - - -
[1] See C-I/DEC.61, “Criteria for the Designation of Laboratories by the OPCW”, and C-I/DEC.67, “Scope of Activities of Designated Laboratories, and the Role and Status of Other Laboratories”.
2 These designated laboratories performed unsuccessfully in the Sixth Official OPCW Proficiency Test, and will not be considered for the receipt of samples taken for off-site analysis until such time as they again meet the criterion stated in subparagraph 2(b) above.
3 This laboratory performed unsuccessfully in the Tenth Official OPCW Proficiency Test, and will not be considered for receipt of samples taken for off-site analysis until such time as it again meets the criterion stated in subparagraph 2(b) above.
4 A dash (–) means that the laboratory did not participate.
5 This A score is a result of satisfactory assistance by the laboratory, but cannot be used for counting towards designation as the laboratory has assisted in a proficiency test conducted in 2001 and subsequently used that score for counting towards designation. (See Paragraph 5(c) of C-I/DEC.65, dated 22 May 1997, stating that “laboratories cannot use performance rating for preparing the samples or evaluating the analytical results of more than one of their last three consecutive proficiency tests”).