Lab accreditation procedures approved The National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC) in July moved from the planning to the implementation stage by approving its final set of uniform standards. Environmental laboratory owners and state regulators met for the first time in 1995 to develop a set of national performance standards for the labs. The group had agreed that without uniform protocol, privately owned labs had often provided poor-quality data. The final standards are modeled after guidelines of the International Standards Organization, such as ISO 43, which covers laboratory proficiency testing. They include academic and professional qualifications for lab managers and employees as well as detailed site assessment procedures. The standards allow states to assume authority fortiheaccreditation of each lab, although their accreditation programs must first be approved by EPA, said NELAC director Jeanne Mourrain. The group also agreed to a host of transitional guidelines to help states deal with an expected rush of applications from labs seeking accreditation. For example, NELAC hopes the first batch of states seeking approval for their accreditation programs will be approved in one package toward the end of 1998. In me same way, states are expected to follow a uniform deadline for accrediting laboratories so that labs around the country will be approved simultaneously. A few issues remain to be resolved, including agreement on a procedure for proficiency testing. Proficiency tests, conducted by the labs and sent to states to demonstrate their ability to execute certain analyses, have been done annually. In the short term, labs will use the same procedures for these tests, but they will do them twice a year. A discussion on proficiency tests will continue at the group's winter meeting, according to Mourrain. The standards are available on the Web at http:// 134.67.104.12/html/nelac/ nelac.htm#NL02. —CATHERINE M. COONEY
EUROPEAN NEWS The proposed enlargement of the European Union could delay implementation of environmental legislation, according to the European Environmental Bureau, an umbrella organization of environmental groups. The European Commission recommended in July that Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, and Slovenia be admitted to the EU by 2006. The Commission admits that none of these nations will reach EU environmental standards by the time they join, breaching a main aim of its enlargement strategy. Whereas the admission of Sweden, Austria, and Finland in 1995 put significant upward pressure on EU environmental standards, future enlargement to the east will pull sharply in the other direction. The environmental groups believe that giving new members the option to "suspend" implementation will compromise environmental progress. Proposed legislation to reduce the environmental impact of old automobiles was unveiled in July by the European Commission. The "end-of-life" vehicles directive sets specific targets for reuse, recovery, and recycling. Recycling of cars would be increased from the current rate of 75% to a rate of 80% in 2005 and 85% in 2015, with 95% of materials recovered. The directive advances the principle of producer responsibility by proposing that "collection and recycling of end-of-life vehicles shall not be a burden of public authorities but shall be the responsibility of the automotive sector's economic operators." How the various sectors, including manufacturers and distributors, will implement this responsibility is currently being debated. A major European CFC-smuggling operation was uncovered in July by customs authorities in four EU countries. One person was arrested in Germany, having illegally brought an estimated 1000 metric tons of CFCs and halons into the EU from China during the past year. Rumors of CFC smuggling have abounded since a production ban in 1995, but little hard evidence of illegal trading has been apparent. The European Commission's antifraud unit now says that imports of CFCs and halons from China have been "widespread." European chemical firms warn that this incident is "just the tip of the iceberg" of CFC smuggling. They have called on EU governments to ban the sale and use of ozone-depleting CFCs. The European solvents industry has grudgingly accepted a plan to limit emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from industrial uses of solvents. Industry representatives said in July that the European Commission's proposal, as modified by EU environment ministers, "is something that industry can find its way through, albeit at great cost." The draft directive aims to halve emissions of VOCs from solvent use in a wide range of industries, allowing operators to abate emissions or substitute other materials and member states to prepare flexible national plans rather than applying the rules individually to every user. Acidification in Norwegian lakes has decreased by more than 25% since 1985, according to new data from the Norwegian Institute for Water Research. The report credits international emission controls with the reduction in acidity. The institute surveyed 1500 lakes and concluded that the greatest improvement has been in southeastern Norway. Despite the improvement, acidification remains a significant problem for Norway's ecosystem. Earlier this year, the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research estimated that acidification has almost wiped out the fish populations in 9500 lakes and that another 5300 remain at risk. —Reprinted with permission from ENDS Environment Daily, published by Environmental Data Services, Ltd., London (http://www.ends.co.uk; e-mail
[email protected]. uk).
VOL. 31, NO. 10, 1997 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS • 4 5 9 A
