Decision No. 44/1999/QD-BNN-KHCN promulgating the standard General Requirements of the Agricultural Laboratory

No. 24- (ltl-(1-1999) OFFICIAL GAZETTE THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT 13 DECISION No. 44/1999/QD-BNN-KHCN OF FEBRUARY 27, 1999 PROMULGA TING THE STANDARD "GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE AGRICUL TURAL LABORATORY" THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT Pursuant to Decree No. 73ICP of November l, 1995 of the Government stipulating the.fimctions. tasks. poH'ers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmenl; Pursuant lo Decree No. 861CP of December 8. 14 OFFICIAL GAZETTE No. 24 (30-6-1999) 1995 of the Government stipulating the assignment ofre.1JHmsihilitiesjr,r the State management over the good1· quolity: At the proposal of the Director of the Oepartment jiJr Science, Technology and Product Qzwli(v. DECIDES: Article 1.- To promulgate IO TCN 382-99 Standard: '·General Requirements of the Agricultural Laborato1y.-'. Article 2.- This Decision takes effect I 5 days after its signing. Article 3.- The Director of the Office, the Director of the Department for Science, Technology and Product Quality, leading officials of organiLations and individuals concerned shall hm c to implement this Decision. For the Minister rdAgriculture and Rural Development Vice Minister NGUYEN QUANG HA STANDARD GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL LABORATORY JO TC'N 382 - 99 (Issued together with Decision No. 44/1999/QD BNN-KHCN r~lFebruary 27, 1999) 1. Introduction: This standard is built on the basis of TCVN 5958 - 95. This standard prescribes general requirements to be met by the laboratory in all its activities. It also applies to the evaluation and recognition ofthe agricultural laboratories. 2. Managerial organization: 2.1. The laboratory must have the legal person status, be organized and operate under the requirements of this standard. 2.2. The laboratorv must: Be staffed with capable managerial cadres and technicians acquiring necessary professional qualifications for the fulfillment of the assigned tasks. Hmc the appropriate organizational strncturc so that all of its members shall not have any pressure to bear upon, \\hich afTcct the professional qua!it, Prescribe the responsibility and power for eve1y· member as well as the inter-relations between employees and leaders of the laboratory. Supenise through professionally qualified persons the procedures and methods of analyzing and evaluating results. Be staffed \\ith cadres in charge of technical matters, \vho take full responsibility for the entire technical operation, including the management and maintenance of operation of equipment. Be staffed with cadres in charge of the quality matters, \Vho take responsibility for the quality system and the application thereof. 3. Staff memhers: 3.1. The laborato1y• must be fully staffed with employees who have professional qualifications and technical experiences necessary for the performance of assigned functions and tasks ( according to the State ·s regulations on titles and posts) 3 .2. The laborato1y·'s staff members must be regularly fostered and trained so as to raise their professional levels. 3.3. The laborato1y must compile records on the staff members' qualifications, skills and experiences so as to elaborate plans for their professional fostering and training. 4. The quality S)'Stem, inspection and examination: 4.1. The laboraton· must establish and maintain the quality system suitable to the type, scope and volume of experiments assigned to it. No. 24 (:::O-C,-1999) OFFICIAL GAZETTE I 5 4.2. The quality manual: The laboratory shall environment must not affect the quality of testing hm c to open the quality manual as prescribed in methods and the equipment require high precision. Clause 4.3 TCVN 5958 - 1995. 4 3. The laboratorv shall ha,c to organize the inspection or its acti, itics within certain periods or time so as to ensure that its activities comply with the requirements or the quality system. The inspection must be carried out by \\ell-trained and qualified cadres and be independent from the acti,itics of the inspected laboratory. Upon detection or any doubts about the accuracy and effects or the experiment results through the inspection. the laboratory shall hmc to immediatcl.', notif, it in \\TIiing to customers \\hose ,rnrk may be affected thcrcb,. 4.4. The apprO\cd and applied quality svstcm "hich has satisfied the requirements or this standard must be reconsidered at least once a year by the leadership or the laboratory so as to ensure its continued conformity and efficiency and to make other necessary changes and imprmcmcnts. 4.5. Any problems detected in the imcstigation or examination as \\ ell as the solutions thereto must be recorded in ,,riling. The persons in charge or product quality must ensure that these \\ ork shall be completed within a time limit agreed upon. 4.(,. Alongside the periodical examination. the laboratory shall hm c to ensure the quality or results provided for customers through the regular examination including: a) The internal quality control system, using statistical techniques when conditions permit. b) Checking the expertise or inter-lab comparative experiments. c) The regular use of recognized standard substances and samples or the use or second-grade standard substances to control the quality at laborator,. d) Experimenting on the repeated use or the same testing method or different testing methods. e) Re-testing rcscrYcd samples. f) Considering the correlation bct\vecn results and different properties or the objects. 5. Facilities and enyironment: 5. I. The experimentation facilities and 5.2. The laboratory must be equipped \\ith necessary equipment to control the cmironmcntal conditions ,,hich affect the testing results. 5.3. The laboratory should \\ork out appropriate measures to ensure the industrial hygiene therein. 5.4. Equipment: 54.1. The laboratory must be fully equipped \\ilh essential equipment of different types to perform the testing with precision (,vith separate list for each professional field) 54.2. All the equipment must be full\ and regularly maintained so as to ensure that no errors shall be made during the experiment. 5.4.3. All the lab equipment including standard substances and specimen, must hm c folio\\ -up records as prescribed in Clause 84 TCVN 5958 1995. 544. All measuring and testing equipment \\hich affect the precision or efficiency of experiments must be adjusted or checked before they are put to use, and be readjusted and rechecked periodically once evcf\ G months or a ,car. . . 6. Testing methods: (,.I. The laboratory must apply standard testing methods alrcad, announced in the Vietnamese standards. international standards, branch standard (including the sample taking, sample preparation, sample prcscf\ ation ... ). G.2. When testing methods hm c not yet been standardi1:cd, the testing methods announced by" cll knmrn teclmical organizations, or \\Tittcn into ollicial documents and commonly applied in research institutions at home and abroad may apply. In case of necessity. the laboratory shall have to come to \\Tittcn agreement "ith customers on the use of the testing methods not yet standardized. 7. Management of testing samples: 7.1 The laboratory must be equipped \\ ith appropriate facilities to avoid wrongly taking or damaging testing samples during the process of 16 OFFICIAL GAZETTE No. 24 (30-6-1999) experiment preparation, warehousing: personnel engaged; . :::ample reception and storage must strictly abide b, the instructions relating to testing samples. The testing samples must be stored under safe cm ironmcnt conditions, and, if necessary, be controlled and full, recorded. 7.2. The laboratory shall have to strictly follm, the procedures for sample taking, storing and liquidation as prescribed 8. Archives: 8.1. The laboratory shall have to maintain an archival system suitable to its concrete conditions and adhere to all current regulations. 8.2. Archival records must be codified so as to ensure their confidentiality and to find them easily when necessary 9. Certificates and reports: 9.1. All experiment results must be clearly, accurately and objectively reported in conformity with the instructions on the experiment methods. Usually, the results should be recorded in experiment reports or certificates of experiment results, which should contain all necessarv information on the testing samples. 9.2. The experiment results card must contain at least the following infonnation: a) Title: For example "Phieu ket qua thu nghiem" (Experiment result card), '·Chung chi chat luong" ( quality certificate), ... h) Name and address of the laboratory c) Code number of the experiment result card (serial number) d) Name and address of customer(s) e) Codification of testing samples f) The date of receiving samples, the date of testing and the date of taking the samples g) The used testing method or description of used method in box of division with official standards h) Experiment results and comments i) Signature and position of the person in charge of the contents of the certificate or the result card and the signing date. j) Announcing ( at the end of page) the validity of the experiment result card ,vhich must not be photocopied or duplicated without the \\'ritten consent of the laboratory 9.3. If the experiment result card contains the experiment results of other laboratories, the latter must be clearly stated. 9.4. The experiment result card must be uniform in its arrangement for each experiment field, ensuring its scientism, accuracy and clarity The fonn must be designed carefully and specifically for each testing perfonncd. The titles must be highly standardized. 9.5. The amendment or supplement to the issued experiment result card is made only in the fonn of a supplementary document. 9.6. The laboratory shall have to notify the experiment results to customers in a cotwenient and quick manner. to. ReceiYing and processing information: I 0.1. The laboratory must elaborate the regulations on settlement of petitions from customers and relevant agencies on its operations. l 0.2. The laboratory must adopt measures to settle in time comments on its operation and responsibility in accordance with the regulations mentioned in this standard. IO. 3. The laboratory shall have to keep all the records on comments and the solutions thereto. For the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vice Minister NGUYEN QUANG HA