14th Meeting of the EPPO Panel on Diagnostics and Quality Assurance
Angers (FR) 2024-02-13/15
The EPPO Panel on Diagnostics and Quality Assurance met in Angers (FR) at the kind invitation of ANSES. Twenty Panel members and 2 observers participated in the meeting.
Revision of horizontal EPPO Diagnostic Standards
The Panel reviewed the draft revisions of three Diagnostic Standards.
PM 7/76 Use of EPPO Diagnostic protocols
A draft revision of PM 7/76 was prepared by a drafting team composed of experts from Austria, Finland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. The Panel reviewed the draft revision of PM 7/76 and agreed that it can be sent for country consultation with the objective of presenting it to the Working Party on Phytosanitary Regulations in 2024.
PM 7/122 Specific requirements for laboratories preparing accreditation for a plant pest diagnostic activity
A drafting team composed of experts from France and the United Kingdom prepared a comparative table of the 2010 and 2023 versions of the ISO Standard 17043 on conformity assessment, and suggested changes for PM 7/122. In addition, a drafting team composed of experts from the Czech Republic, Finland, France and the United Kingdom worked on including elements of EA-4/21 on the organization of small inter laboratory comparisons (ILC) in PM 7/122. The Panel reviewed the changes proposed by the two drafting teams on PM 7/122. Further work is needed before the draft revision can be sent for country consultation. The Panel also discussed other alternatives to proficiency testing (PT) e.g. blind tests/testing, bilateral comparison and whether further guidelines were needed on the organisation of those alternatives to PT. Drafting teams were established to further clarify the terminology and the need to include more elements on the organisation of such quality controls in PM 7/84 Basic requirements for quality management in plant pest diagnosis laboratories, PM 7/98 Specific requirements for laboratories preparing accreditation for a plant pest diagnostic activity or PM 7/122.
PM 7/130 Guidelines on the authorization of laboratories to perform diagnostic activities for regulated pests
A draft revision of PM 7/130 was prepared by a drafting team composed of experts from Germany and the United Kingdom. The Panel reviewed the draft revision of PM 7/130 and agreed that it can be sent for country consultation with the objective of presenting it to the Working Party on Phytosanitary Regulations in 2024.
The Panel further discussed the need for revision of other Horizontal Standards.
Revision of PM 7/98 Specific requirements for laboratories preparing accreditation for a plant pest diagnostic activity
The Panel agreed that a drafting team will explore the need to revise Appendix 5 regarding High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) tests.
PM 7/147 Guidelines for the production of biological reference material
The Panel reviewed a survey prepared by the EPPO Secretariat on the use of PM 7/147. The Survey will be circulated to laboratories registered in the EPPO database on diagnostic expertise, to kit producers and to collections in 2024.
PM 7/151 Considerations for the use of High Throughput Sequencing in plant health diagnostics
The Panel proposed that the examples of HTS tests for virology will be published as a supplementary material for PM 7/151. The Panel also agreed to prepare a survey on the use of PM 7/151. The survey will be circulated after the publication of the supplementary material.
Other topics
Future ISO Standard on general requirements for the use of PCR based methods
The Panel was informed of the drafting of a new ISO Standard on general requirements for the use of PCR based methods.
Revision of the EPPO instructions to authors of Diagnostic Protocols
The Panel discussed the proposals for the revision of the EPPO instructions to authors of Diagnostic Protocols based on feedback received from specialized Panels on Diagnostics and on suggestions from the EPPO Secretariat. This includes the reference to authorities of arthropod species names, the addition of a revision history for revised protocols, the simplification of the section on the controls for molecular tests, the interpretation of real-time PCR tests and the use of cut-off values, the development of a glossary for virology, the development of a template for EPPO diagnostic protocols, the criteria for the selection of tests and guidelines for the description of LAMP and HTS tests. The Panel also reviewed a document on the clarification of tasks when developing new protocols or revising existing ones,
Criteria for the prioritization of development of new EPPO diagnostic protocols
The Panel discussed the gap between the current list of pests recommended for regulation and the ones covered by an EPPO diagnostic protocol as well as the criteria to be used to prioritize the development of new EPPO diagnostic protocols.
Update on the discussions of the EPPO Secretariat with the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA)
The EPPO Secretariat discussed the results of the survey on accreditation organized by the EPPO Secretariat in the summer of 2023. Following discussions between EA and the EPPO Secretariat, the Panel agreed to draft additional guidelines on the flexible scope in relation to PM 7/98.
EPPO databases on diagnostics
The EPPO Secretariat provided an overview of the EPPO Database on diagnostic expertise and the Panel discussed ways to improve the database. The EPPO Secretariat also presented the work performed on the EPPO-Q-bank database in 2023 and the survey planned on the use of the database in 2024.
Brainstorming on detection and identification
The EPPO Secretariat presented the context and the outcome of discussions with the Panel on Diagnostics in Mycology. The Panel discussed the difference between these two steps of the diagnostic process and the need for harmonization in flow diagrams and text of the Diagnostic Protocols.
Communication and events
The Panel suggested the organization of a Conference on Diagnostics to be held in 2026 and the organization of a training session on HTS, and of a Workshop for Heads of laboratories to be held in 2025.
Euphresco
The Panel was informed about the EU funding that Euphresco received to develop into a global network (EUPHRESCO III project). The most recent Euphresco research projects of relevance to the Panel were also presented.
Terms of Reference of the Panel
The Panel went over the Terms of Reference of the Panel and updated the text.
Next Panel meeting
The next meeting of the Panel on Diagnostics and Quality Assurance will be held in first quarter of 2025.
Participants
The composition of the EPPO Panel on Diagnostics and Quality Assurance can be found on the EPPO website.