(1)

Regulation (EU) 2017/625 provides that laboratory analyses, tests and diagnoses on samples taken during official controls and other official activities are to be performed by official laboratories, which have been designated as such by the competent authorities of the Member States.

(2)

In accordance with Article 37(4), point (e) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, official laboratories need to comply with, inter alia, certain accreditation criteria based on international standards. Article 37(5) provides that the scope of this accreditation shall include the methods of laboratory analysis, test or diagnosis required to be used during official laboratory operations.

(3)

The purpose of the obligation to have laboratories and methods accredited is to ensure the competence of official laboratories to produce reliable and reproducible results as a basis for harmonised official controls and other official activities within the Union.

(4)

At the same time, the accreditation process requires considerable time and resources.

(5)

Article 41 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 therefore empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts specifying the cases where and the conditions under which competent authorities may designate as official laboratories, laboratories which do not fulfil the conditions of Article 37(4), point (e) of that Regulation in relation to all the methods they use for official controls and other official activities. Such laboratories may be designated according to the conditions stipulated under that empowerment provided they fulfil the criteria established in Article 41, points (a) and (b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625.

(6)

In the areas of plant health, food contact materials, food additives, food enzymes, flavourings and feed additives further efforts are needed to complete the process of accreditation. The related tasks are complex since the potential number of substances to be verified in a given matrix or the various matrix/analyte combinations implies a broad range and high number of testing methods. Accrediting all the potential combinations poses a disproportionate burden in terms of time and resources on laboratories in these areas.

(7)

Competent authorities should therefore be able to designate as official laboratories those laboratories that are not accredited for all the methods they use for official controls and other official activities provided that such laboratories have a quality assurance scheme in place and make use of methods characterised by the relevant criteria set out in Annex III to Regulation (EU) 2017/625, as well as by the modalities for the application of those criteria.

(8)

In the area of plant health competent authorities should be able to designate as official laboratories those laboratories that wish to use a method for which they do not have accreditation and that are already accredited for at least one method for use on a pest from the same organism group, namely nematodes, bacteria, fungi and oomycetes, viruses, viroids and phytoplasmas, insects and mites, as the pest for which the non-accredited method is used.

(9)

In accordance with Article 167(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, in the area of plant health, Article 37(4), point (e) and Article 37(5) of that Regulation apply from 29 April 2022. With respect to the designation of official laboratories in the area of plant health, this Regulation should therefore also apply from 29 April 2022,

(a)

those laboratories have a quality assurance system in place to ensure that reliable results are obtained from the use of methods of laboratory analysis, test or diagnosis outside the scope of their accreditation and

(b)

the non-accredited methods used by those laboratories are characterised by the relevant criteria to the areas covered under this article set out in Annex III to Regulation (EU) 2017/625.

(a)

those laboratories have a quality assurance system in place to ensure that reliable results are obtained from the use of methods of laboratory analysis, test or diagnosis outside the scope of their accreditation;

(b)

the non-accredited methods used by those laboratories are characterised by the relevant criteria to the area of plant health set out in Annex III to Regulation (EU) 2017/625, and

(c)

the laboratory is already accredited for at least one of the methods listed in the categories referred to in the Annex for use on a pest from the same organism group as the pest for which the non-accredited method is used.