Medical laboratories can seek recognition as being compliant with particular standards through a number of different systems. Recognition of medical laboratories handling clinical specimens as distinct from those dealing with the results of pre-clinical studies are in their infancy in most European countries. A laboratory accreditation system contains three elements, the organisation or authority which conducts the inspections or assessments and grants accreditation (and may also set the standards), the inspection or assessment which seeks to establish compliance with the standards, and crucial to the whole process the standards themselves. In most European countries the emphasis has been on development of standards and quality manuals and practical experience in all three elements of accreditation is, with a few exceptions, is very limited. In other parts of the world, such as USA, Canada and Australia there is depth of experience from which other countries can learn.