ENAC has awarded Compliance Certifica the first accreditation for certification of persons in accordance with the UNE ISO/IEC 17024 standard, for two schemes, developed by the body itself, related to tax and public procurement fields. In particular, these are the categories of tax adviser and the head of good tax practices, in addition to public procurement professionals.

Certification of persons is an internationally established tool that enables professionals to demonstrate that they have the knowledge, professional skills and aptitudes set out in their professional profile and that they have been assessed by an independent and technically competitive body, through an internationally accepted assessment process described in UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17024.

Developing certification of persons schemes has therefore become an effective means of responding to the emergence of new labour niches, which require specific skills not covered by traditionally regulated training. It provides professional service markets with more transparent and symmetrical information, thereby enabling the professional’s clients to make a more informed and competitive-based choice, which increases the transparency and competitiveness of these markets.

Charo López Mata, Quality Manager at Compliance Certifica, explains the need for developing these certification schemes: "Despite the important role of tax advisors, I'm surprised by the lack of professional regulation, in a country like ours that is undoubtedly characterized by just the opposite. This is where the importance of certification is”.

For its part, in the tax compliance field and how it is applied practically by means of the UNE 19602 standard, López Mata states that "the figure of the head of good tax practices is of particular importance and, in the case of being a physical person, Compliance Certifica's recent ENAC-accredited certification provides the organization, for which they provide their services, the guarantee that they can perform the functions entrusted to them".

Finally, regarding the public procurement manager, López Mata notes that "the European Commission adopted the (EU) 2017/1805 Recommendation for professionalisation in public procurement, to encourage EU Member States to increase such a person’s professionalisation and the ENAC-accredited certification scheme responds to this".

However, for the Quality Manager at Compliance Certifica, the benefits of accredited persons certification for these professionals are evident: "It’s a way of differentiating them that identifies them in the market, and to be chosen over others. The accredited certification of persons ensures that certified professionals meet qualification requirements, have proven experience and the required complementary training in accordance with the competences required to carry out their activity".