To raise Nation-wide awareness of internationally agreed normative documents of relevance, namely the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) Workshop Agreement, ISO 15793:2011 Laboratory biorisk management, ISO 15189:2007 Medical laboratories — Particular requirements for quality and competence, ISO 15190:2003 Medical laboratories — Requirements for safety, ISO/IEC 17025:2005 General requirements for the competence of testing ...[+++] and calibration laboratories, ISO 9001:2008 Quality management systems — Requirements, as well as ISO 14001:2004 Environmental management systems — Requirements with guidance for use, involving national health policy makers as well as laboratory managers and staff who are encouraged to commit to a transparent and accountable culture of biosafety, biosecurity and laboratory quality systems.

(Return tabled) Question No. 8 Ms. Judy Wasylycia-Leis: With respect to the government’s actions to detect, prevent and treat Lyme disease in Canada: (a) by what standard is the accuracy of Lyme disease testing conducted at the National Microbiological Laboratories evaluated; (b) when was the most recent independent evaluation of the proficiency of this testing conducted, by whom and what were the results; (c) what are the current criteria for determining whether a geographical area is deemed to be endemic for Lyme-infected ticks; (d) what is the projected schedule of field study with regard to such endemic areas; (e) with respect to ...[+++] the recommendations of the National Conference on Lyme Disease hosted by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in March 2006, (i) have the committees to develop new guidelines on surveillance, clinical and laboratory criteria been formed and, if so, when have they met, (ii) what stakeholder groups have participated in the development of new guidelines, what form has that participation taken, and when did it occur; (f) what is the government's strategy to protect canadians from the increase in incidents of Lyme disease anticipated by PHAC; (g) what is PHAC's strategy to increase (i) physicians' and other health professionals' awareness of the symptoms of Lyme disease, (ii) the canadian public's awareness of the symptoms of Lyme disease; (h) what measures has the PHAC taken in conjunction with provincial health authorities to increase professional and public awareness; (i) what are PHAC's measurable targets for the future increase of awareness and diagnostic accuracy of Lyme disease; (j) does Health Canada recommend the screening of blood for Lyme disease or co-infections such as babesiosis, as done in the United States and, if not, why not; and (k) what research projects into lyme borelia and tick-borne co-infections, their epidemiology, their possible role in the occurence of other diseases, and their treatment are current ...

that the national laboratories, when appointed by the appropriate competent authority or body designated pursuant to Article 3, that are taking part in Community-wide intercomparisons covering pollutants regulated in this Directive, are accredited according to EN/ISO 17025 by 2010 for the reference methods referred to in Annex VI. These laboratories shall be involved in the coordination on Member States territory of the Community wide quality assurance programmes to be organised by the Commission and shall also coordinat ...[+++]e, on the national level, the appropriate realisation of reference methods and the demonstration of equivalence of non-reference methods.

There are the Canadian Wildlife Service, the water and wetlands branch; Atmospheric Environment Service, Ontario region; Environmental Conservation Service; the National Water Research Institute; the National Laboratory for Environmental Testing; the Waste Water Technology Centre; Dry Deposition Research Centre; King Radar Research Facility; the Centre for Atmospheric Research Experiments; Atmospheric Environment Service, Downsview; the Environmental Technology Centre, and so on.

A first essential step in raising the quality of forensic laboratories throughout the Union is therefore that all forensic laboratories in the EU adopt a quality assurance system based on these two standards and that these are recognised by their national accreditation body (under the assumption that this national body is part of the international accreditation and certification circuit).

Since 1989, the national report for the Netherlands gives details of the quality of the bathing water managed by the regional authorities (Niet-Rijkswateren). Consequently, it covers far more bathing areas.