Table 28. Choosing an EQA.

Recommended practice	EQA body accredited according to ISO/IEC 17043 (an accredited EQA body is considered impartial and independent) or for non-accredited EQA bodies, independence from suppliers and participating laboratories. The EQA body undertakes to carry out reactive vigilance declarations in the event of anomalies observed. Availability and cooperation with expert medical biologists. Adequacy with the needs of the laboratory (relevance, frequency and alternation of the proposed levels). Switching capability certified by the EQA body (data available later) or information on this switching capability. Relevance of evaluation: number of participants in peer groups or any methods and statistical analysis. Clarity of reports. Discussion of clinical cases
Acceptable practice	EQA bodies present on the annual report of external quality assessment bodies published by the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products. If the EQA body is not accredited, the laboratory will verify that the EQA body is working according to ISO/IEC 17043 (independence or implementation of measures to ensure no conflicts of interest with suppliers of analytical/reagent systems, non-disclosure of assigned value before the closing date, no subcontracting of assessment and planning, conformity of report content, etc.)
Unacceptable practice	Direct dependency on a supplier. Inappropriate frequency and levels. Unclear or missing reports (different language, content not conforming to ISO/IEC 17043 standard).
EQA - external quality assessment.