National reference laboratories and Official Control Laboratories

Requirements of National Reference Laboratories

According to the European control regulation, i.e. the Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament of the Council on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules, Article 33, the members states are to appoint national reference laboratories (NRL’s) in different areas.

A Nordic standard intended to describe and illustrate the requirements on national reference laboratories and ways in which the Nordic cooperation in this sector could be arranged has been elaborated. The standard was elaborated by a working group established by the Department for Food of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2009.

The Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 is now replaced by the Regulation (EU) 2017/625. Thus, NMKL has revised the Nordic standard document from 2009. Please cite NMKL when referring to the revised document ver. Feb 2021.