Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration January 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In the Federal Register notice of April 13, 2004 (69 FR 19644), the Department of Health and Human Services (``HHS'' or ``Department'') published final changes to the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. These changes established specimen validity testing standards and reporting procedures for Federal agency urine specimens collected under the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. These changes to the Mandatory Guidelines were subject to further comment only on the creatinine criterion that is part of the requirement to report a urine specimen as substituted because the Department based this criterion on information received after the comment period on the proposed changes published on August 21,2001 closed. After reviewing the comments received regarding this issue, the Department has concluded that the 2 mg/dL creatinine criterion established in the April 13, 2004, Federal Register notice (69 FR 19644) for a substituted specimen is the appropriate cutoff concentration to use for reporting a urine specimen as substituted.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notifies Federal agencies of the laboratories currently certified to meet the standards of Subpart C of the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs (Mandatory Guidelines). The Mandatory Guidelines were first published in the Federal Register on April 11, 1988 (53 FR 11970), and subsequently revised in the Federal Register on June 9, 1994 (59 FR 29908), on September 30, 1997 (62 FR 51118), and on April 13, 2004 (69 FR 19644). A notice listing all currently certified laboratories is published in the Federal Register during the first week of each month. If any laboratory's certification is suspended or revoked, the laboratory will be omitted from subsequent lists until such time as it is restored to full certification under the Mandatory Guidelines. If any laboratory has withdrawn from the HHS National Laboratory Certification Program (NLCP) during the past month, it will be listed at the end, and will be omitted from the monthly listing thereafter. This notice is also available on the Internet at https:// workplace.samhsa.gov and https://www.drugfreeworkplace.gov.