6th Framework Programme, Priority 6.3 - Global Change and Ecosystems

Contract N°: 018486

Duration: 36 months

Start date: 1^st September 2005

Budget of the project:
Total budget: …… 1.900 M€
EC contribution: … 1.900 M€

Co-ordinator:

B.P. n° 2 - 60550 - Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
Contact: .

The objective of the project is to create a network of (expert) reference laboratories and related organisations in order to:

⇒ improve the exchange of information and data on emerging environmental contaminants between monitoring institutes, research centres and end-users (modelling experts, risk assessors and risk managers)

⇒ encourage the validation and harmonisation of common measurement methods and monitoring tools so that the demands of risk assessors and risk managers can be better met.

Such a network should facilitate the production of good quality data on emerging substances which are comparable across Europe, thus providing the basis for further identification of newly emerging pollutants and assessment of their potential risks to humans and ecosystems.

The ultimate goal is to have, at the end of the project, a permanent network whose role and legitimacy are recognised by the public authorities.

In operational terms the project has 5 objectives (identified by 5 different Sub-projects - SP).

SP1: NETWORK - Build the structure and activities of the future permanent network

To ensure the optimal transition of the initial ‘core network’ (NORMAN consortium) to a permanent and ‘extended network’ capable of functioning beyond the life of the project, an entire sub-project within this Co-ordination Action will be responsible for all activities related to:

the definition of criteria for the identification of reference laboratories, experts and related organisations (potential future partners of an extended network)
the identification of NORMAN Contact Points who will help the network to gather information in the different countries about on-going initiatives on emerging substances (monitoring campaigns, research projects, etc.)
the dissemination of information about emerging contaminants via the Newsletter and website (European information portal on emerging substances).

SP2: INTERACTION - Allow an EU-wide exchange of information

Via international workshops NORMAN will foster co-operation and the exchange of information

within the community responsible for carrying out monitoring (reference laboratories, monitoring institutes and related organisations) and
between this community and bodies requesting and specifying monitoring, including those responsible for risk assessment, risk management, substance prioritisation and the setting of environmental quality standards.

These workshops will enable a comprehensive and regular assessment of the needs for monitoring data across EU25 and the requirements for analysis.

SP3: SEARCH - Facilitate access to and evaluation of information about emerging environmental substances

NORMAN will improve access to existing methods, data and information from EU research programmes, by developing three web-based databases of:

leading European experts, organisations (reference laboratories, research centres and monitoring institutes) and projects dealing with emerging pollutants;
geo-referenced monitoring data on target emerging substances and
mass spectrometric information on provisionally identified and unknown substances.

Particular attention will be given to the parts of databases enabling the end-user to interpret the data and judge their representativeness, quality and comparability with other data sets.

SP4: VALIDATION - Improve data comparability

Methods validation protocols will be provided by the network to support the development, validation and harmonisation of methods to meet European demands for monitoring emerging pollutants. The protocols will address three different scenarios, corresponding to three different levels of method development and validation:

no suitable analytical or bio-monitoring method is available
methods exist, but are only validated at the level of single or research laboratories
methods are validated but only at the level of expert laboratories.

The final protocols will be used to launch New Work Item Proposal(s) at CEN for the development of new technical guidelines / reports (e.g. CEN TR).

SP5: CASE - Test the developed protocols and the functioning of the network

To test the developed protocols and the ability of the network to meet European demands for monitoring of emerging pollutants, three inter-laboratory studies will be undertaken, involving the project partners and external laboratories from a wide selection of Member States, including New Member States. This will enable benchmarking of the competencies and expertise and foster the transfer of knowledge and techniques.