The main differences between the JRC-EC and GLOSOLAN procedures for organizing inter-laboratory comparison exercises are: 1) JRC-EC considers results from elite labs as the standard of quality while GLOSOLAN considers all results equally; 2) JRC-EC excludes labs with poor performance while GLOSOLAN aims to improve labs through staff training, standardized procedures, and harmonizing results; 3) The final objective of GLOSOLAN is to decrease dispersion of results globally through harmonization rather than exclusion of labs.

1. Item 9. Organization of EUROSOLAN
inter-laboratory comparison
exercises

2. Main differences between JRC-EC experience and GLOSOLAN procedure
JRC-EC GLOSOLAN
Criteria used to evaluate what “good quality” analytical results are
Results should be as close as possible to
those provided by those considered
“elite” labs
…they already decided what the center of
the target is
When results have a low dispersion around the mean
value for all labs (ref. consensus value)
…GLOSOLAN considers all results at the same level
What happens one the performance of labs is assessed
With the performance of labs at hand, a
decision on the labs to exclude is made
With the performance of labs at hand, decisions on
how to improve the performance of labs in need are
made:
1. Training of lab staff and lab managers
2. Use of harmonized SOPs
3. Test what flexibility can be accepted in the use of
the SOPs to still get similar results
4. Harmonization of results when procedures result in
statistically different results
Final objective: decrease inter-lab dispersion around
the world.