REPUBLIC OF CROATIA State Office for Metrology

WHY CROATIA NEEDS MiC INFRASTRUCTURE

Miroslav Banić

WHY CROATIA NEEDS MiC INFRASTRUCTURE ARISING QUESTIONS

The question in the title of this short presentation Why Croatia needs MiC infrastructure leads us consequently to some other questions: - Why Europe needs MiC infrastructure ? or - Why The World needs MiC infrastructure ? or - Why Metrology in Chemistry at all ?

WHY CROATIA NEEDS MiC INFRASTRUCTURE QUESTIONS

Well, some people might say that the Chemistry is older than Metrology and the Metrologist could say that Metrology is at least as old as the Chemistry Anyhow, the central question is, why the Metrology became applicable so late in the modern Chemistry ? One of the reasons may be that in Chemistry there was no consistent concept and terms which could enable assesment and comparability of the measurements results After the metrological terms and concepts such as metrological traceability, measurement uncertainty, reference material (RM), certified reference material (CRM) and others were introduced and defined in Chemistry, the development of MiC infrastructure became very fast.

WHY CROATIA NEEDS MiC INFRASTRUCTURE

Example: Physical Measurements Sample

USING CALIBRATED EQUIPMENT

Results

Chemical Measurements Sample

USING VALIDATED ANALYTICAL PROCESS

Results

MiC INFRASTRUCTURE IN CROATIA PRESENT STATE

It is a well known fact, that MiC Infrastructure in Croatia looks like a distributive system, similarly as the organization of Croatian NMI that consist of laboratories located in different institutions. It consist of: 1. Chemical laboratories being a part of State Office for Metrology (DZM) - Laboratory for Density, holder the national etalon for density, accredited according to ISO 17025 by DKD - Laboratory for precious metals articles and chemical measurements, will be in process of accreditation according to standard ISO 17025 in the year 2007 2. Institut Ruđer Bošković (IRB) with a large number of chemical laboratories in different fields. Some of these laboratories are accredited according to standard ISO 17025, some are in process of accreditation

MiC INFRASTRUCTURE IN CROATIA PRESENT STATE

3. CROLAB, an association of public and privat analytical, testing and calibration laboratories in different fields of activities 4. A great number of chemical, biochemical, analytical, testing or calibration laboratories with different fields of activities, accredited or not, incorporated in the system for Public Healthcare 5. A certain number of reference laboratories in different fields of activities, accredited according to ISO 17025 6. A large number of chemical, biochemical, analytical, testing or calibration laboratories in different fields of activities, spread throughout Croatia, being a part or somehow connected with big companies (INA, Pliva) or smaller companies, accredited or not. This is a very short overview of the present state on MiC infrastrucure

MiC INFRASTRUCTURE IN CROATIA

WHAT KIND OF MiC INFRASTRUCTURE CROATIA REALLY NEEDS ?

1. First of all, MiC infrastructure should be coordinated by one coordination body. This coordination body has to be situated in Zagreb and probably be a part of certain organization e.g. - State Office for Metrology (DZM) - National Metrology Institut (NMI) - Institut Ruđer Bošković (IRB) 2. Main duties of the Coordination body should be as follows: - coordination of all activities inside MiC infrastructure in Croatia - coordination and harmonization of activities with DG JRC-IRMM - coordination of activities with other relevant institutions and organizations in EU-member states or in the World - help in organizing the interlaboratory comparisons

MiC INFRASTRUCTURE IN CROATIA WHAT KIND OF MiC INFRASTRUCTURE CROATIA REALLY NEEDS ?

3. Laboratory for reference materials should be established 4. Database for reference materials (RF) and certified reference materials (CRF) at the national level should be established - this database should be linked with EU-databases such as ERM, COMAR or LGC 5. A net of the Reference laboratories in different fields of activities should be established (some of Reference laboratories allready exist) 6. There will be a great need for support in education in different fields of activities, especially in education for experts. A significant contribution in education could be given by JRC-IRMM, Croatian Metrology Society (HMD) or Center of Technology Transfer (CTT).

MiC INFRASTRUCTURE IN CROATIA CONTRIBUTION IN IMPROUVEMENT OF MiC INFRASTRUCTURE

1. The enlargement of the EU, will certainly require special effort in order to support the needed improuvement of MiC infrastructure in Croatia 2. The R&D at European level in MiC , will certainly require an efficient cooperation of R&D testing bodies and laboratories too. There will also be a need of extending the scope of competence of laboratories in MiC with new fields, especially in field of biology, environmental protection, human health and general safety. That is why Croatia needs MiC without any doubt !