NY Pub Health L § 502 (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBH - Public Health Article 5 - Laboratories Title 1 - General Provisions: State Laboratories; Approved Laboratories 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.