TRACEABILITY IN ANALYTICAL-CHEMISTRY

Notwithstanding their theoretical and/or practical significance, some basic concepts of widespread, subconscious acceptance and use In the t echnical, social and economic fields lack a precise definition owing t o their vague, imprecise meanings. Some Such concepts represent new ap proaches and are assigned a variety of names when in fact they have be en around as long as mankind. Such is the case with 'honesty' in the s ocial field, 'profitability' in economic spheres and 'traceability' in the technical realm. Measuring has been a necessity Since the spring- time of human activity. To measure is to compare and the comparison en tails using a reliable reference or standard. Traceability in the tech nical field is a basic, generic concept related to the quality of the measurements made and the results obtained from them. Even though the traceability concept has been implicit in analytical chemistry activit ies since the very beginning, it only surfaced in the specialist liter ature fairly recently, through the metrological concepts inherent in q uality assurance international regulations. In fact, while traceabilit y is explicitly defined in the International Organization for Standard ization (ISO) Guide no. 25, it is very often used as a matter of cours e or defined in rather variable terms. The resurgence of the traceabil ity concept can be ascribed to the growing concern with quality in the analytical laboratory and the expansion of international trade relati onships, which relies on harmonizing laboratory activities in order to mutually exchange results. Here, the traceability concept as pertinen t to the analytical chemical field is dealt with systematically its va rious basic and applied notions are discussed, with special emphasis o n the analytical chemical aspects and the prominent role of calibratio n and standardization in this context.