Louisiana Administrative Code
Title 48 - PUBLIC HEALTH-GENERAL
Part V - Preventive Health Services
Subpart 28 - Drinking Water Laboratories
Chapter 80 - Certification of Laboratories Performing Drinking Water Analyses
Subchapter B - Program Procedures and Requirements
Section V-8035 - Issuance and Display of Certificate and Use of Certification

A. The department will issue a certificate to each laboratory meeting the requirements of this Chapter indicating that the laboratory is certified by the department.

The numbered certificate will be signed by a laboratory director, or assistant laboratory director, of the department's Laboratory Services Section and the designated laboratory certification staff personnel and will be considered an official document. It will be transmitted as a sealed and dated (effective date and expiration date) document and contain the certification logo. Addenda or attachments to the certificate shall be considered official documents. Information on the addenda or attachments shall include the matrix, fields of certification, methods, analyte/analyte group and technologies.

B. A certified laboratory must not use its certificate, certification status and/or certification logo to imply, either orally or in any literature, endorsement of the laboratory by the state of Louisiana or the department. A certified laboratory must not make any inaccurate statements concerning their fields of certification and certification status.

C. A certified laboratory's certification number or other identifier shall be included when the certification body's name is used on general literature such as catalogs, advertising, business solicitations, proposals, quotations, laboratory analytical reports or other material.

D. The laboratory must distinguish between proposed testing for which the laboratory is certified and the proposed testing for which the laboratory is not certified.

E. The laboratory must return to the department any revoked certification certificate(s) and must discontinue use of all catalogs, advertising, business solicitations, proposals, quotations, laboratory analytical results or other materials that contain reference to their past certification status and/or display their past certification logo.

F. The department shall take suitable actions including, but not limited to, legal action when incorrect references to the certification body's certification, misleading use of the laboratory's certification status and/or unauthorized use of the certification logo is found in catalogs, advertisements, business solicitations, proposals, quotations, laboratory analytical reports or other materials. All reports of questionable laboratory practices must be reported to the department's laboratory director, or assistant laboratory director, and to the department's laboratory certification program manager. The department's laboratory certification program manager shall investigate the merits of the report and forward the findings to the department's laboratory director, or assistant laboratory director. If it is determined that a formal investigation is needed, the department's laboratory director, or assistant laboratory director, shall contact the Bureau of Legal Services within the Department of Health (LDH) for guidance and assistance in the investigation. If the investigation determines that action is merited, the laboratory shall be issued a revocation order via certified mail revoking the laboratory's certification. All legal actions taken by the department shall proceed in accordance with the Louisiana Administrative Procedure Act (R.S. 49:950 et seq.) and under the direction of LDH's Bureau of Legal Services. No laboratory's certification shall be revoked without the right to due process. The laboratory has a right to an administrative hearing thereon, if requested in writing within 20 days of receipt of the revocation order. Said hearing shall be held before an Administrative Law Judge and in accordance with the Louisiana Administrative Procedure Act (R.S. 49:950 et seq.) All documents related to the investigation(s), including the final disposition, shall be retained by the department for 10 years from the date of such final disposition.

G. Certification may be transferred when the legal status or ownership of a certified laboratory changes without affecting its staff, equipment, and organization. The department may conduct an on-site assessment to verify the effects, if any, of such changes on laboratory performance.

H. The following conditions apply to the change in ownership and/or the change in location of a laboratory, as well as to a change in top management, key personnel, resources, or premises that is, or previously was, certified by the department under a previous owner and/or at a previous location.