Accreditation and EQA

The EURL is accredited to EN ISO 15216-1 (shellfish) and 15216-2 (vegetables, soft fruits and surfaces) according to ISO 17025 by SWEDAC (Swedish accreditation body). Official laboratories, including NRLs have to be accredited to EN ISO 17025 and the EURL has an obligation to assist NRLs, to meet accreditation and quality standards.

External quality assurance (EQA) or proficiency testing (PT) is essential for accreditation and good quality assurance programmes. The EURL regularly provides NRLs with PT distributions covering hepatitis A virus and norovirus genogroups I and II in different food matrices, like raspberries, leafy greens, bivalve molluscan shellfish and samples represent real surface samples. There is no guarantee that the number of PTs from the EURL will be satisfactory for maintaining accreditation for ISO 15216 according to national accreditation bodies policy.

Essential for accreditation is the verification of standard methods. 

EURL guidance documents for the verification of ISO 15216

Reviewed 2025-04-09