European Workplace Drug Testing Guidelines
European Guidelines for Workplace Drug Testing in Urine
European Guidelines for Workplace Drug Testing in Oral Fluid
European Guidelines for Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing in Hair
European Drug Testing Guidelines Research Project
In 2007, a research project was undertaken to identify the legal landscape for drug testing in more than 60 nations other than the United States. The target list included most of the European Union countries as well as some from Africa and Asia.
Researchers discovered the following:Most countries did not have drug testing laws comparable to those found throughout the United States.
1) Most countries did not have drug testing laws comparable to those found throughout the United States.
2) Drug testing in countries other than the United States was primarily governed, if at all, by labor agreements, health regulations and privacy laws.
3) Efforts were underway in Europe to identify and promote best practices for the collection, analysis and interpretation of drug tests.
Each country’s drug testing laws should be examined in order to ensure accurate and legally defensible drug testing programs. The “European Laboratory Guidelines for Legally Defensible Workplace Drug Testing” and the “Drug and Alcohol Testing in Hair, Collection and Analysis” guidelines are just what they purport to be, guidelines for laboratories. They are similar to laboratory drug testing guidelines used in the United States at both the federal and state levels… but they are also unique in their own ways.
Many countries may regulate who can be drug tested and when, but might otherwise defer to the European Guidelines for lab-based testing procedures. Other countries do not have drug testing laws per se, but will regulate drug testing indirectly through a variety of privacy and labor-related safety regulations. In these cases, unless local law states otherwise, the European Guidelines provide safe and legally defensible processes for laboratory analysis of urine and hair specimens… and soon for oral fluids.
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