Standards Forensic Toxicology (004.1)

Version: 3.0

Date of approval: 12 December 2016

Date of effect: 12 December 2016

De datum van inwerkingtreding ligt voor de datum van uitgifte.

Part I. General Introduction to Standards

§ 1. Background to and aim of the Standards

Reporting forensic experts play a crucial role in the administration of justice. The NRGD aims to ensure justified confidence in forensic expertise for stakeholders. This confidence must be based on the demonstrable independently safeguarded quality of forensic investigators and their reports on the basis of (inter)national forensic-specific standards.

The NRGD is managed by the Board of Court Experts (hereinafter: Board). The Board’s core task is to rule on the applications for registration or repeat registration in the register of the NRGD (register). To that end the Board first defines the field of expertise. This is important in order to inform applicants, assessors and users of the register (e.g. judge, public prosecutor and attorney) about the activities an expert in the field of expertise in question engages in and about the activities that fall outside the field of expertise. The demarcation of the field of expertise is set out in Part II of these Standards.

The Board also determines the criteria on the basis of which an assessment is made for each field of expertise as to whether an application complies with the quality requirements. The generic requirements are set out in the Register of Court Experts in Criminal Cases Decree (Besluit register deskundige in strafzaken). These requirements are elaborated further for each field of expertise. This elaboration is set out in Part III of these Standards.

Furthermore the Board determines the assessment procedure. This procedure is described in Part IV of these Standards.

The NRGD has a system of periodic repeat registration. Court experts must demonstrate every five years that they still meet the requirements in force at that time. The Standards are dynamic and are being developed further in order to enhance the quality of the experts. These Standards set out the current state of the (sub-)field of expertise.

§ 2. Types of applicants

The NRGD distinguishes two types of applicants: the initial applicant and the repeat applicant. The initial applicant is a reporter who at the time of submission of the application is not yet registered in the register for the field of expertise to which the application relates. The repeat applicant is an expert who is already registered in the register for the field of expertise to which the application relates.

These two types of applicants are subdivided as follows:

Initial applicant:

Repeat applicant:

The initial applicant is an applicant who at the time of submission of the application does not have an NRGD registration. An initial applicant could be:

In respect of initial applicants, it is necessary to make a clear distinction between the independent reporter and the reporter without work of his own. An example of a reporter without work of his own is the newly-trained expert. This expert has completed the forensic training (reporter’s training), but has not yet been able to independently write the number of reports required for the assessment because these are written under the supervision of a tutor during the training. Another example of a reporter without work of his own is the reporter whose earlier application was rejected and who has been working (partly) under supervision following this rejection.

The Board adopts the following principle. Every applicant must draw up a List of Case Information. This list must include a specific number of cases in a period specified by the Board immediately preceding the application. If the List of Case Information includes one or more cases which have been prepared under supervision, the applicant will be qualified as a ‘reporter without work of his own’. An additional requirement applies to the applicant who was rejected earlier: the case reports included in the List of Case Information must have been drawn up after the date of the Board’s decision rejecting the earlier application (Policy Framework on Application after Rejection).1It is possible to make an exception to this general rule, namely in case of an earlier rejection pursuant to Article 12(2), sub-paragraph a, of the Register of Court Experts in Criminal Cases, the so-called training requirement. Reports written before the date of the Board’s decision rejecting the earlier application may be included in the List of Case Information, provided that they were drawn up within the generally applicable period preceding the time of submission of the new application.

The distinction between the various types of repeat applicants is important in the context of the assessment procedure: the documents a repeat applicant must submit, the composition of the Advisory Committee on Assessment and the assessment method.

§ 3. Justification of Standards

These Standards have been established by the Board in accordance with the Register of Court Experts in Criminal Cases Decree (Besluit register deskundige in strafzaken) and the Experts in Criminal Cases Act (Wet deskundige in strafzaken). Representatives from the various domains were consulted; users (judges, public prosecutors and lawyers) and subject matter experts in the field (professional organisations, representative associations, experts both at home and abroad). The draft of the Standards has also been published on the NRGD website for public consultation.

§ 4. Validity of Standards

The Standards are valid from the date shown on the cover. The validity runs until the moment of publication of a new version. In principle it will be checked annually as being up-to-date. This check can lead to a new version. The aim is to publish the new version no more than once a year.

§ 5. Version management and formal revision history

All changes made to the Standards lead to a new version. Newer versions of (parts of) the Standards are designated with a higher version number.

5.1. Version management

In the case of editorial changes the old version number is increased by 0.1. Editorial changes have no substantive impact. In the case of substantive changes the version number is increased by 1.

5.2. Formal revision history

The revision history starts with version 1.0 as the first formally approved version. Substantive changes made are briefly described in the revision history (Annex C). This makes it possible to trace which Standards are valid at any given moment at all times.

Part II. Demarcation of Forensic Toxicology

§ 1. Introduction

The description of the field Forensic Toxicology is stated below.

§ 2. Core activities

Toxicology describes the fate of substances in – and their potentially harmful effect on – living organisms, with the aim of assessing the risks of exposure to these substances for humans, animals and the environment, and minimising any undesirable effects. Toxicology is an interdisciplinary field of study that is shared among the medical, biological and chemical fields of science, and comprises all chemical compounds (of a biological, mineral or synthetic origin).

Toxicology has a number of subspecialties, such as:

Generally speaking, forensic toxicology is regarded as an area of special interest within the subspecialty of Human or Medical Toxicology.

Forensic toxicology can also be defined as the specific study of the consequences of exposure to substances on behalf of the administration of the law in the widest sense.

For a forensic toxicologist it is extremely important that he/she has an overview of the entire specialist field of toxicology. A forensic toxicologist particularly has to have a command of the principles of clinical toxicology and their application to legal questions. Moreover, knowledge and experience in the field of bio-analytical chemistry is required.

Forensic toxicology is important in criminal and civil law cases -knowledge in the field of administrative and disciplinary law is also relevant- which relate to (a) victim(s) or perpetrator(s).

The core tasks of a forensic toxicologist include consultation on the question at issue, the examination plan, the choice of analysis and the interpretation of the laboratory results.

Key questions in this context are:

§ 3. Methodology

Pre-analytical phase: choice of sample to be analysed and drawing up a bio analytical examination strategy.

Analytical phase: supervision of the bio-analytical examination by qualified analytical staff. It is of importance that the forensic-toxicological laboratory complies with verifiable quality requirements that have been set in advance, and that said laboratory has been accredited.

Post-analytical phase: the indication of the probability of the bio-analytical results clarifying the described effects. In the process all relevant facts, so far as known from the post-mortem examination, the pre-analytical and analytical phase, and other relevant facts are taken into account. The forensic toxicologist must be aware of the possibilities and limitations of the analysis techniques used.

§ 4. Boundaries of the field of expertise

When reporting as an expert registered for the field of Forensic Toxicology, the expert should be aware of the possibilities and limitations of the techniques and/or specialisations. The expert should also be aware of the pros and cons of these techniques, specialisations and/or developments.

The field of expertise of Drugs comes under that of Toxicology to the extent that it concerns the biological fate of the substance(s) and their effects on human beings.

As regards the above issues for examination, the forensic toxicologist is the first point of contact, which means the forensic toxicologist must be aware that, from the perspective of specialist subareas (for example psychopharmacology), statements can also be made with respect to, for example:

and must be aware of his limitations compared to other areas of expertise.

§ 5. Registration

The register will state the name of the relevant expert as an expert in the field of Forensic Toxicology.

Part III. Registration requirements for Forensic Toxicology

The general (repeat) registration requirements are given below in italics in the next paragraphs in italics with a reference to Article 12 paragraph 2 in the Register of Court Experts in Criminal Cases Decree (Besluit register deskundige in strafzaken).

An expert will only be registered as an expert in criminal cases upon submission of the application if, in the opinion of the Board, the expert:

§ 1. Article 12(2) sub-paragraph a

(...) has sufficient knowledge and experience in the field of expertise to which the application relates.

1.1. Initial: independent reporter

1 In these instances the applicant should have played a demonstrable role in the pre-analytical and/or analytical and/or post-analytical part of the investigation (as far as applicable) involving a complex substantive interpretation. This excludes, for example, reporting a measured result without interpretation. In this sense, ‘interpretation’ does not refer to the comparison of a threshold value. In the process, all relevant facts, as far as known from the pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical phase, and other relevant factors are taken into account, with reference to the scientific literature. An applicant should have recent experience of interpreting and reporting cases at the time of his application for registration.

1.2. Initial: reporter without work of his own

1.3. Repeat applicant: after unconditional registration

1.4. Repeat applicant: after conditional registration

§ 2. Article 12(2) sub-paragraph b

(...) has sufficient knowledge of and experience in the field of law concerned, and is sufficiently familiar with the position and the role of the expert in this field.

§ 3. Article 12(2) sub-paragraph c

(...) is able to inform the commissioning party whether, and if so, to what extent the commissioning party’s question at issue is sufficiently clear and capable of investigation in order to be able to answer it on the basis of their specific expertise.

§ 4. Article 12(2) sub-paragraph d

(...) is able, on the basis of the question at issue, to prepare and carry out an investigation plan in accordance with the applicable standards.

§ 5. Article 12(2) sub-paragraph e

(...) is able to collect, document, interpret and assess investigative materials and data in a forensic context in accordance with the applicable standards.

§ 6. Article 12(2) sub-paragraph f

(...) is able to apply the current investigative methods in a forensic context in accordance with the applicable standards.

§ 7. Article 12(2) sub-paragraph g

(...) is able to give a verifiable and well-reasoned case report on the assignment and any other relevant aspects of their expertise in terms which are comprehensible to the commissioning party, both orally and in writing.

An applicant should:

§ 8. Article 12(2) sub-paragraph h

(...) is able to complete an assignment within the stipulated or agreed period.

§ 9. Article 12(2) sub-paragraph i

(...) is able to carry out the activities as an expert independently, impartially, conscientiously, competently, and in a trustworthy manner.

An applicant should:

§ 10. Hardship clause

The Board may decide not to apply or deviate from a registration requirement if application of such requirement would produce very unreasonable results. The hardship clause may only offer a solution in certain exceptional situations. It is up to the applicant himself to submit facts and circumstances showing that a certain registration requirement is unreasonable in his specific case.

Part IV. Assessment procedure for Forensic Toxicology

§ 1. General

In all fields of expertise the assessment will be based on the written information provided, including as a minimum requirement case reports and items of evidence, supplemented in principle with an oral assessment. However, such an oral assessment will not be necessary if the applicant's expertise has already been clearly demonstrated by the written information.

The assessment will in principle be carried out on the basis of the information provided by the applicant:

An additional case report and/or information can be requested if it is felt necessary in the context of the assessment.

If it is felt necessary in the context of the assessment an additional case report and/or information, for example information about the way collegial review and/or supervision is organized at your organization, can be requested.

§ 2. Assessment procedure per type of applicant

2.1. Initial: independent reporter

2.2. Initial: reporter without work of his own

2.3. Repeat applicant: after unconditional registration

2.4. Repeat applicant: after conditional registration

Annex A. Summary of conceptsin forensic toxicology

This document contains keywords of concepts of which an expert in the field of Forensic Toxicology should minimally have a basic knowledge.

1. Human biology

– Anatomy, physiology, biochemistry

2. Pathology

3. Pharmacology and Toxicology

4. Post-mortem toxicology

5. Bio-analytical investigation

Annex B. NRGD glossary