Leaders from Europe's major Certified Reference Materials (CRM) producers last week met to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for the new European Reference Materials (ERM) Initiative, which is designed to harmonise and further improve quality, reliability and performance in chemical analysis.
The signing of the document, which also includes a brand name licence agreement, concludes the first step of a joint venture between LGC, one of Europe's leading analytical laboratories and the major supplier of CRMs in Europe, the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) of the European Commission and the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM).
Reference materials are used to ensure reliability and comparability of the results of chemical analysis and to improve confidence in the mutual recognition of chemical test results.
LGC's CEO, Dr Richard Worswick, was among the signatories of the Memorandum at a ceremony held in Geel, Belgium. "This initiative will create a European brand of Reference Materials that will be accepted and recognised worldwide for their high metrological quality," he said.
The official launch of the ERM initiative is due to be held at the Analytica exhibition, on 11-14 May 2004 in Munich, Germany, where a selected range of ERM products will be introduced.
Dr Worswick noted that the development of ERMs will strengthen the European common market by creating a reliable European chemical measurement system. The effort will also create a European alternative to the widely used CRMs produced by the US National Institute of Science and Technology.
"There is also a need to increase the support of European legislation and trade with high-quality CRMs," said Dr Worswick. The initiative is expected to expand as the number of signatories increases; it will seek to integrate other European CRM producers that prepare, certify and handle CRMs according to ISO Guides 34 and 35, and that are also signatories or designated laboratories of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA).
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Dr Worswick, Dr Alejandro Herrero Molina, the director of the IRMM, and Prof Dr Manfred Hennecke, president of the BAM, at the IRMM headquarters.