• Home
  • Approved laboratories for water quality monitoring
15/03/2021

Approved laboratories for water quality monitoring

Applications for laboratory approvals to conduct sampling and analysis for water quality monitoring purposes

As of 1 March 2021, Act no. 2020-1525 of 7 December 2020 on accelerating and simplifying public action has transferred to ANSES responsibility for issuing, amending and withdrawing laboratory approvals to conduct sampling and analysis for water quality monitoring – as defined in Article L. 1321-5 of the French Public Health Code – for drinking water, natural mineral water, natural bathing water, and water for swimming pools and artificial bathing pools, with the exception of approvals for radioactivity analyses, which fall within the competence of the Minister of Health.

The Ministerial Order of 25 February 2021, amending the amended Ministerial Order of 5 July 2016 on the conditions for approving laboratories to conduct sampling and analysis for water quality monitoring, sets the administrative and technical conditions under which laboratories may obtain approval to conduct sampling or analysis of quality monitoring parameters for:

  • drinking water and natural mineral water;
  • natural bathing water;
  • water for swimming pools and artificial bathing pools.

Any initial application, or application for renewal or amendment of approval results in the creation (initial application) or updating (renewal or amendment application) of the applicant's laboratory account on the SISE-Agrelab application website.

Once the data have been completed in SISE-Agrelab, it is the responsibility of each laboratory to send the supporting documents listed in Annex VII of the order of 5 July 2016 according to the application type (initial, renewal, amendment), as well as the standard form completed in SISE-Agrelab, to the following organisations:

  • for the "radioactivity" parameter, to the Ministry of Health in accordance with the procedures published on its website;
  • for the microbiological and/or physico-chemical parameters, to ANSES in accordance with the provisions described below.

The application dossier, dated, signed and accompanied by a letter specifying the application type (initial, renewal, amendment) and the list of parameters added or deleted compared to the previous application (for renewal and amendment applications), is sent to ANSES,

Anses, LHN – Laboratoire d’hydrologie de Nancy
40, rue Lionnois
54 000 Nancy
FRANCE

Any application for renewal or amendment of approval must be sent no later than 180 days before the expiry date of the approval or before the planned implementation date of the requested amendments.

Approved laboratories for conducting sampling and analysis for water quality monitoring

The table containing the contact details and approval scope of laboratories approved by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety since 1 March 2021, or by the Ministry of Health before 1 March 2021, can be viewed on the Ministry of Health website.