5. Different standards repositories

The analytical standards used by laboratories come from different sources, depending on their mission, and help to harmonize practices. Where they exist, control laboratories prefer to use official, mandatory standards: national methods laid down by decree, or even European methods laid down by regulation. These official methods may also refer to standardized methods (known as delegated acts) which, apart from this specific case (1% of cases), remain voluntary. As they are drawn up on a consensual basis, these standards contribute to a common language with the aim of organizing a high level of quality. They can be descriptive (e.g. FAO Codex Alimentarius, IOC International Olive Oil Council commercial standard for olive oils, Moroccan standard for argan oils, etc.), industrial, methodological or organizational...

Standards are grouped by area of interest or geography:...