In addition, ENAC becomes one of the first six signatories of a new agreement on reference material producers

 

The Multilateral Agreement Council of European Accreditation, responsible for managing the peer evaluation and decision-making processes related to the new signatories of the multilateral recognition agreements, decided, on 9 May, after studying the audit team’s report, that ENAC retains its status as signatory to all EA's multilateral agreements and becomes one of the six first signatories to the new reference material producer agreement, formally signed at the EA General Assembly held in Rome on 22 and 23 May.

These mutual recognition agreements constitute an essential element for achieving one of accreditation's basic objectives: reducing or eliminating technical trade barriers, promoting trust and cross-border acceptance of the information provided by conformity assessors, regardless of the country in which they are accredited.

 

International assessment: foundation of mutual recognition

To ensure that accreditation services are equivalent in all Member States, EC Regulation 765/2008 lays down fundamental principles of binding compliance for accreditation bodies. One of these is to be supervised every four years by European co-operation for Accreditation (EA), the organisation designated by the European Commission to manage the European accreditation infrastructure, and to successfully pass the peer assessment processes set by EA. After passing this assessment, the national authorities will recognize the equivalence of the services provided by the accreditation bodies of other countries.

Therefore, during October and November 2018, ENAC received a visit from the EA audit team appointed to assess the body’s activities. The assessment team consisted of thirteen members, led by a chief auditor from the Netherlands accreditation body and supported by twelve auditors from accreditation bodies in Denmark, Turkey, Germany, Czech Republic, Greece, France, Poland and the United Kingdom.

During their stay, the EA audit team carried out a detailed investigation of the whole Spanish accreditation system; assessing supporting documents such as activity records; interviewing various staff members; and accompanied ENAC's audit teams in actual audits. After a rigorous assessment process, the final report was studied in May by the EA's Council for the Multilateral Agreement and ENAC's the status of signatory to these agreements was reaffirmed.