Paul De Bievre,
Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, EC-JRC, B-2440 Geel, Belgium

Nineta Majcen
Metrology Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (MIRS), Ljubljana, Celje, Slovenia
 

Abstract
Spectroscopic methods are widely used in analytical laboratories all over the world. Detailed knowledge about the principles of the techniques as well as knowledge of the whole analytical process are necessary to ‘produce’ measurement results of adequately high quality. According to the conclusions resulting from IRMM’s International Measurement Program (IMEP) rounds, IMEP-3, IMEP-6 and IMEP-9 (Trace elements in water) where the participating laboratories used four different spectroscopic techniques (ETAAS, FAAS, ICP-ES and ICP-MS), that is not always the case: more than 50% of the spectroscopic results with their stated uncertainties do not overlap with the uncertainty range of the certified/assigned reference value (for ICP-MS the percentage is slightly better). It is obvious that the analytical community must put greater effort in the establishment of a better common metrological basis for (spectroscopic) measurements