General considerations on the preparation of water certified reference materials†

Abstract

A high degree of consistency in water measurements and analyses performed within European laboratories is essential for the implementation of European Directives. In order to support Community policies, the Standards, Measurements and Testing Programme (SM&T) of the European Commission encourages and supports technical collaboration between the laboratories of EC Member States through the organisation of interlaboratory studies and the production of certified reference materials (CRMs). This paper provides an overview of the requirements to be taken into account in the preparation of water CRMs. Preliminary tests carried out for the production of new groundwater CRMs are presented.