Method Performance Studies for Inorganic Analysis: Examples of Resuls Obtained by Plasma Spectrochemical Techniques in the Frame of Community Bureau of Reference (BCR)-Certification Campaigns

Abstract

The Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) (now renamed Standards, Measurements and Testing Programme) of the European Commission has actively contributed to the improvement of analytical methods used for inorganic determinations in various matrices through the organization of interlaboratory studies, the final aim of which was to certify reference materials. In the frame of these collaborative exercises, it was possible to compare different techniques and to draw conclusions on their performance (accuracy and precision). This paper briefly describes the organization of BCR-interlaboratory studies and discusses the performance of plasma spectrochemical techniques in comparison with alternative techniques as a result of various certification campaigns on environmental and biological reference materials.