The technological advances in the past 30 years have completely revolutionised the way in which analytical chemists perform analytical work. Various decisions on e.g. the quality of manufactured products (and of manufacturing processes), health care, food safety, workplace safety, consumer protection, environmental management etc. depend upon data provided by chemical analytical laboratories. Forensic evidence (e.g. crime detection) also often relies on chemical measurements, as well as international trade is critically dependent on the comparability of analytical results, providing the basis for the definition of the nature and origin of goods and tariff classification. Moreover, reliable chemical measurements are necessary to support EU policies in these areas, covering from regulatory issues such as food safety and the fight against fraud to voluntary sector activities such as increased cohesion and improved wealth creation.

The main purpose of QUA-NAS Network, based on the terms of reference of the topic 44 under Fifth Framework Growth Programme Measurement and Testing/Dedicated Call (GROW/DC5MTI, 2001/C-290/05), has been to create an extensive forum form for the improvement of the infrastructure for metrology in chemistry in the New Associated States (NAS) by a transfer of knowledge between the EU and the NAS countries. The network was composed of 22 Members, covering various activity sectors and disciplines with complementary analytical expertise, of which 10 are from 7 EU Member States and 12 from 9 Newly Associated States (NAS). The large diversity and complementarity presented in the consortium lead to a high efficiency of the network.

The emphasis of the network has been given to three main sectors, namely environmental, food and clinical. The network utilized the existing channels between important stakeholders and created new ones at the level of "practitioners" (e.g. routine laboratories, universities, research centres, SMEs, National Metrology Institutes, etc.) both from the EU and EU candidate countries. Dissemination across different user communities shall guaranteed that these concepts were firmly embedded.