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Combined Interpretations of the 2003, 2009, and 2016 Standards that apply to Volume 1 of the 2016 TNI Standard


MODULE 2: QUALITY SYSTEM GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
Section: 5.8.6

Question:  Is the sample acceptance plan required to be communicated to clients at any particular frequency, i.e. annually?

TNI Response:  5.5.8.3.2 states that the "sample acceptance policy shall be made available to sample collection personnel." The introduction included in 5.5.8 states "the following are essential to ensure the validity of the laboratory's data," which would mean that the laboratory can't invoke 5.1.2, which states "When a laboratory does not undertake one or more of the activities covered by this Standard, such as sampling and the design/development of new methods, the requirements of those clauses do not apply" to avoid having such a policy. However, the Standard makes no mention of any period under which the acceptance policy must be communicated to clients.  This sentence is not in the 2009 or 2016 standards.  The policy still exists, but not the requirement to make it available to the client. The SIR is obsolete and can be removed from web when 2003 Standard is no longer in use