European Quality Assurance Spain, EQA, has become the first ENAC-accredited body according to the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17029 standard to verify compliance with "do no significant harm" (DNSH) to the environment principle required by the Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico, MITERD) within the framework of its Strategic Project for Recovery and Transforming Economics in the Circular Economy (Proyecto estratégico para la recuperación y transformación económica, PERTE EC).

The Ministry, through Order TED/1211/2022, requires the applicant for PERTE’s aid that, once the project has been completed, they demonstrate DNSH principle compliance through the corresponding verification ruling issued by an accredited body in accordance with Regulation No. 765/2008 of the European Parliament and the Council, which implies, in the case of Spain, that it is accredited by ENAC.

Although there were already accredited bodies for validating self-assessment regarding the DNSH principle, this is the first accreditation granted in Spain to verify, once the project has been completed, the compliance report with this principle. That is, validation applies to statements or reports about facts or events with a future intended use or a projected result, while verification is carried out ex post facto and refers to events that have already occurred or results that have already been obtained.

 

Accredited verification, a support for the Public Administration

This Ministerial Order is yet another example of the trust placed by the Spanish Public Administration in ENAC's accreditation to achieve its public policy objectives, in this occasion, in terms of promoting waste management and the circular economy.

Accredited verification of DNSH principle compliance report provides added confidence to this information's recipient, i.e. the MITERD, as accreditation is a tool that allows administrations and other decision-making bodies to reduce the risk associated with their responsibility in this regard.

For more information, contact Juan Peláez, ENAC's Certification and Verification department.