Deadline to Submit Feedback on Proposed 16th Edition of RT Standards is June 21

AABB is seeking public comment on the proposed draft Standards for Relationship Testing Laboratories, 16th edition, until June 21. A comprehensive description of the many additions and edits in the draft is provided in a summary memo that accompanies the proposed RT Standards.

The proposed 16th edition of Relationship Testing Standards is the first set of Standards to incorporate the updated quality systems essentials that form the basis for all sets of AABB Standards. The updated quality systems essentials provide a one-page piece of guidance before the beginning of each of the 10 chapters.

This guidance includes:

• A description of the chapter and what the standards therein cover.
• A list of key terms that mirror the content of the chapter that should be kept in mind when reviewing the standards.
• A list of key objectives that an assessor would look for during an onsite assessment; however, this list is not comprehensive.

Users should note that these are not requirements that members will be held against. Rather, they are tools to assist users in their understanding of the content of the chapter.

Some of the significant changes in the proposed 16th edition include:

• Each chapter now concludes with the record retention table for those standards. A comprehensive record retention table still exists in chapter 6.
• The standards have been expanded in a number of ways to allow genetic genealogy testing laboratories to meet these new requirements.
• New Standard 5.2.2.4 requires that samples collected at an embassy or consulate are shipped directly to the testing laboratory instead of a third party.
• New Standard 5.5.5.1 requires that laboratories using two-party non-parentage calculations and any other testing algorithms in use in the laboratory are completed with validated calculation software.

The Relationship Testing Standards Committee encourages all interested individuals to submit comments during the 60-day comment period, which began April 21. The standards in the 16th edition are in the proposed phase and will be finalized after the comment period has concluded. The Committee will review all comments submitted and provide a summary document that describes the Committee’s rationale for its final decisions.