The Marine Chemistry Testing Laboratory at the Institute of Oceanology-BAS has received an internationally recognized accreditation certificate from the “Bulgarian Accreditation Service” Executive Agency, according to BDS EN ISO/IEC 17025:2018 which defines the general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.
Thus, the Institute of Oceanology – BAS which is statutorily designated to monitor the ecological and chemical status of marine waters has met the requirements of Article 84 (1) of Regulation No 1 of 11 April 2011 on water monitoring, according to which all analytical methods, including laboratory and field methods, used for the purpose of chemical monitoring programmes should be validated/verified and documented in accordance with BDS EN ISO/IEC-17025 or other equivalent internationally recognised standards.
This certificate authorizes the Marine Chemistry Testing Laboratory at the Institute of Oceanology-BAS to perform accredited sampling of seawater and marine sediments as well as testing of 20 seawater characteristics, including physicochemical indicators, dissolved gases, total organic carbon, biogenic elements, and moisture content in marine sediments.
The specificity of this accreditation is that it is aimed at the low limits of determination of trace elements of seawater using internally validated laboratory methods, and the right to perform most analyses both in the laboratories of the IO-BAS and on board the Research Ship Academik. This provides a unique opportunity to improve the physicochemical monitoring of the Black Sea, in accordance with WFD and MSFD.
The Marine Chemistry Testing Laboratory at the Institute of Oceanology – BAS has an ambition to extend its accreditation to the analysis of contaminants.
