Joint Assessments to Reduce Demands on Veterinary Labs

The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) have signed a formal agreement laying the foundations for joint assessments in a bid to reduce replication.

Currently, VMD performs technical audits of Official Laboratories to ensure that they comply with the requirements of Commission Decision 2002/657/EC. Article 5 of the decision states that: "the laboratory must comply with the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025," which is assessed by UKAS. It was agreed earlier this year that a single joint assessment of a practice`s veterinary residue analytical functions would benefit laboratories rather that rather than two separate ones. UKAS and VMD have been in discussions with LGC, one of the UK`s official laboratories, about trialling the process.

John Points, Head of Residues at LGC said: "as well as reducing duplication, LGC expects to benefit from a more robust combined assessment from UKAS and VMD, with the inclusion of assessors with the expertise to check our compliance with highly specific European legislation on analytical method validation."

Rob Bettinson, UKAS Accreditation Manager said: "Third-party assessment can provide real benefits to the assessed body in terms of helping efficiency and effectiveness. But UKAS is aware that the time required can be a challenge to a busy laboratory. This is why UKAS is keen to reduce multiple audits where possible. UKAS is delighted to be working with VMD to implement a scheme that will reduce these demands."