Information leaflets
- Details
- Published: Wednesday, 10 April 2024 22:52
Eurachem Information Leaflets are short briefing documents on a specific topic. Information leaflets are usually intended to inform a wide audience, including laboratory staff, managers and laboratory customers.
Like Guides, Information Leaflets are developed by the different Working Groups, often in cooperation with other organisations.
Eurachem information leaflets are all available free of charge from the website. Many have been translated into several languages.
Current Eurachem Information Leaflets
The current list of topics and information leaflets is given below. All leaflets are available in English; availability in additional languages is indicated below. "Translations available" indicates that more than four language versions (including English) are available.
Previous editions, which may be available in additional languages, can be found in our publication archive.
Accreditation
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ISO/IEC 17025:2017 - A New Accreditation Standard (2018) | Translations available
Proficiency testing
- Proficiency Testing Schemes and other interlaboratory comparisons (2022) | Translations available (1st ed)
- How can Proficiency Testing help my laboratory? (2022) | Translations available
- Selecting the right proficiency testing scheme for my laboratory (2022) | Translations available
- Proficiency testing - How much, and how often? (2022) | Translations available (1st ed)
- Pre- and post-analytical proficiency testing (2022) | Translations available
- Use of surplus Proficiency Test items (2022) | Translations available
- How to investigate poor performance in proficiency testing (2022) | Translations available
- PT Schemes for sampling (2020) | Translations available
- Let's call a PT scheme a PT scheme! (2022) | Farsi, Italian
- Interlaboratory Comparisons other than PT (2024)
Measurement uncertainty and traceability
- Information leaflet for lab customers concerning the quality of chemical analyses (2000) | German, Portuguese, Turkish
- Traceability of Analytical Results (2019) | Translations available
- Use of uncertainty information in compliance assessment (2021) | Farsi, German, Ukrainian
- Using repeated measurements to improve the standard uncertainty (2015) | Translations available
- Treatment of an observed bias (2017) | Translations available
- Setting target measurement uncertainty (2018) | Translations available
- What is the uncertainty factor? (2021) | German, Farsi
Method validation
- The importance of method validation (2021) | Farsi, German, Turkish
Terminology
- You talk, we understand – The way out of the tower of Babel
An introduction to terminology in measurement (2023)
Withdrawn and Superseded Information Leaflets
Some older Eurachem Information leaflets have been superseded by the current editions listed above or withdrawn as no longer of current interest. Available electronic copies of all superseded guidance are, however, listed in the Publication Archive for reference.
The international standard ISO/IEC 17025 requires a laboratory to participate in proficiency testing (PT) and/or to participate in interlaboratory comparisons (ILCs) other than PT. However, the Standard gives no guidance as to what these other ILCs might be, or indeed how they might compare in relation to PT.
This information leaflet is intended for laboratories perfoming chemical analyses. It has been prepared by the Eurachem Measurement Uncertainty and Tracability Working Group (see 
A laboratory will occasionally have a poor performance in a PT scheme. When this occurs, the laboratory should acknowledge it, carry out an investigation and document a review of possible causes, even if it decides not to take any specific action. This leaflet, prepared by the EURACHEM 
Test items are sometimes available from proficiency testing (PT) providers after the completion of a PT round. The EURACHEM 
2017 saw the publication of a new version of ISO/IEC 17025 - General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Among other things, the new Standard adopted a substantially revised structure, including different management system options. The 2017 edition placed new emphasis on "risks and opportunities", included clearer reference to sampling activities, and added new requirements around conformity assessment and a new emphasis on metrological traceability.