In the framework of the General Assembly of European Accreditation (EA) held in Bled (Slovenia) on 23rd and 24th May, Ignacio Pina, Technical Manager of ENAC, has been elected Vice President of the European accreditors organization.

The European accreditation infrastructure

The European Parliament and the Council’s (EC) Regulation No. 765/2008 set up the accreditation model in Europe by appointing European Accreditation (EA) as the body responsible for operating it, at the same time as setting out the roles and responsibilities of national accreditation bodies and national authorities.

The Regulation's aim is to ensure that accreditation service is provided in all Member States according to the same requirements and in accordance with common operation and organization principles so as to ensure the highest level of protection of the public interest in areas such as general health and safety, consumer protection and environmental protection and to ensure that all Member States rely on the certificates issued by the accredited bodies thereby reducing costs and obstacles to the movement of products and services in Europe.

One of the main functions that EA regulations give is managing the peer inspection system which all National Accreditation Bodies should be subject to. EA is also a body pursuing an aim of general interest and establishes lines of cooperation between EA and the European Commission.

International career

Ignacio Pina has been ENAC's Technical Manager since 2000, and is responsible for all activity areas: laboratories, certification, inspection, verification, and so on.

Internationally, during his professional career in ENAC, he has been Chairman of EA (European Accreditation) Sub-Committee on food certification, EA representative in IAF (International Accreditation Forum) Executive Committee, IAF contact person with the agri-food sector and Vice President of ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) Inspection Committee. Since 2005, he has been in EA Executive Committee and in 2013 he was elected its Horizontal Harmonization Committee Chairman.