37 Tex. Admin. Code § 651.8 - Commission Accreditation and Accredited Laboratory Reporting Requirements
(a) Issuance and renewal. The Commission may
issue or renew accreditation under this section.
(b) Application. An applicant for Commission
accreditation must complete and submit to the Commission a current Laboratory
Accreditation Form and attach copies of the following:
(1) an accreditation certificate and letter
of notification of accreditation from a recognized accrediting body;
and
(2) each document provided by
the recognized accrediting body that identifies the discipline or category of
analysis for which the laboratory has received accreditation and any limitation
or restriction regarding that accreditation.
(c) Additional information. The Commission
may require additional information to properly evaluate the application either
as part of the original application or as supplemental information.
(d) Reports to the Commission:
(1) If accredited by ANAB, a laboratory must
provide the Commission with a copy of each accreditation assessment report
including, but not limited to, any on-site surveillance assessment report,
off-site surveillance assessment report, scope extension assessment report,
Federal Bureau of Investigation Quality Assurance Standards Audit for Forensic
DNA Testing Laboratories report, ABFT Checklist report, as well as any
management system's internal or external audit report, or any other reports
required pursuant to compliance with accreditation by the laboratory within 5
days of completion or receipt of the report. If accredited by A2LA, a
laboratory must provide the Commission with a copy of each equivalent report
within 5 days of completion or receipt of the report.
(2) A laboratory must provide the Commission
with a copy of all substantive communications between the laboratory and the
recognized accrediting body. The laboratory must submit the copy to the
Commission no later than 10 days after the date the laboratory receives or
transmits the correspondence, report, or communication.
(3) A laboratory that either voluntarily
makes a decision to discontinue accreditation or is informed by its accrediting
body of the accrediting body's decision to discontinue its accreditation in a
specific forensic discipline or category of analysis must submit written
notification to the Commission no later than 5 business days after the
effective date of the discontinuation.
(4) A laboratory must notify the Commission
by email no later than five (5) business days of any change to the employment
status of its Commission-licensed forensic analyst or forensic technician who
departs employment, experiences a gap in employment, is not actively performing
casework, or temporarily assumes non-forensic analysis, administrative duties
from the laboratory.
(e)
Federal forensic laboratories. A federal forensic laboratory is deemed to be
accredited by the Commission without application provided that the laboratory
is accredited by a recognized accrediting body as provided under §651.4 of
this subchapter (relating to List of Recognized Accrediting Bodies). A
laboratory deemed accredited is not subject to the reporting requirements of
this subchapter or the processes provided under Subchapter B of this chapter
(relating to Complaints, Special Review, and Administrative Action).
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.