N.Y. Public Health Law § 502: Environmental laboratories; examinations; certificates of approval

§ 502. Environmental laboratories; examinations; certificates of

approval. 1. For the purposes of this section, "environmental

laboratory" is any facility that examines or is available for the

examination of samples or specimens including, but not limited to: air,

stack emissions, water, wastewater, surface water, ground water,

recreational waters, swimming pools, leachate, land runoff, solid waste,

hazardous waste, soil, sediments and vegetation, as well as any

substance that could contribute to the pollution of or that could be

contaminated by material contained in such samples or specimens. Such

examinations shall be limited to the qualitative or quantitative

determinations of the biological, chemical, radiochemical or physical

characteristics of such samples or specimens for the purposes of public

or personal health protection or the protection of the environment or

natural resources. Environmental laboratories shall not include

non-laboratory chemical testing associated with residential water

softeners and residential swimming pools.

2. No environmental laboratory may perform any examination on samples

collected in the state of New York for which the commissioner issues a

certificate of approval for such examination unless the laboratory has

been issued such certificate of approval. Such laboratory examinations

shall conform to any conditions under which the approval is granted.

3. The commissioner may issue to laboratories certificates of approval

covering laboratory examinations, including but not limited to, specific

procedures or specialities within such categories as wastewaters,

potable waters, sediments, solid wastes, and air, and may prescribe the

conditions under which such approvals will be granted. Notwithstanding

any other conditions which he may prescribe, such an approval shall not

be issued hereafter to a laboratory, not heretofore approved, unless the

director or other person in charge of such examinations shall possess

such educational and technical qualifications as the commissioner shall

prescribe.

4. No state agency, authority, county, city, including the city of New

York, town, village, water district, sewer district or other political

subdivision of the state shall contract with any laboratory for

laboratory examinations for which the commissioner issues certificates

of approval pursuant to subdivision three of this section, unless such

laboratory has been issued such certificate.

5. Subject to the approval of the director of the budget, the

commissioner shall charge adequate and reasonable fees for the periodic

inspection of out-of-state laboratories.

6. Subject to the approval of the director of the budget, the

commissioner shall charge laboratories fees to recover the cost to the

department of operating this program. The commissioner may waive all or

any part of such fee charges for laboratories operated by the state.

Fees shall include the following:

(a) a basic amount of five hundred dollars to be charged to each

laboratory;

(b) the balance of the program cost from:

(1) an additional amount to be charged to each laboratory proportional

to total adjusted volume of analytes performed by the laboratory in the

preceding year as defined in regulations of the department, the total

amount collected from which shall equal fifty percent of the balance of

the program costs;

(2) an additional amount to be charged to each laboratory proportional

to the number of analytes for which such laboratory maintains its

certification.

Subparagraph one of paragraph (b) of this subdivision shall not apply

to government laboratories.

7. For those categories, procedures or specialities as specified in

subdivision three for which the commissioner has issued certificates of

approval, the commissioner shall within thirty days of receipt of an

application for a certificate from a laboratory existing on or before

April first, nineteen hundred ninety-three, which is initially required

to obtain certification, review such application and issue an interim

certificate of approval in the particular category, procedure or

speciality to all laboratories which provide adequate documentation in

their application that they are capable of performing quality work in

the category, procedure or speciality under review. An interim

certificate of approval in specified categories will remain valid until

such time as the commissioner shall reach a determination on the

application.

8. The commissioner may adopt and amend rules and regulations to

effectuate the provisions and purposes of this title.

9. A person who intentionally violates or refuses or omits to comply

with subdivision two of this section, or any regulation adopted pursuant

thereto, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable upon conviction, by

imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than

one thousand dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment. A second or

subsequent conviction shall be punishable by imprisonment for not more

than one year or a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred

dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment.

10. The department may require an environmental laboratory to report

laboratory test results to the department, or to any other health

department in an electronic manner prescribed by the department.