Table 1.

Year of signing agreement for EQA programs.

Year	Institutions	Comments
2005	Scottish Haemophilus, Legionella, Meningococcus & Pneumococcus Reference Laboratory (SHLMPRL) Scotland and Statens Serum Institut (SSI) Denmark	This EQA was performed based on a personal agreement between the two laboratories on May 23, 2005.
2009	SHLMPRL, Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) Norway, SSI	Agreement of External Quality Assurance on serotyping of Streptococcus pneumoniae
2010	SHLMPRL, NIPH, SSI, National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) Finland, Public Health England (PHE), England	Agreement of External Quality Assurance on serotyping of Streptococcus pneumoniae
2013	SHLMPRL, NIPH, SSI, THL, PHE	Agreement of External Quality Assurance on serotyping of Streptococcus pneumoniae
2015	SHLMPRL, NIPH, SSI, THL, PHE, The Public Health Agency of Sweden (PHAS), Sweden.	Agreement of External Quality Assurance on serotyping of Streptococcus pneumoniae
2017	SHLMPRL, NIPH, SSI, THL, PHE, PHAS, Netherlands Reference Laboratory for Bacterial Meningitis (NRLBM), the Netherlands, National Reference Laboratory, Israel	Agreement underway including NRLBM and National Reference Laboratory Israel