The National Accreditation Body (ENAC) held its General Assembly, chaired by José Manuel Prieto and attended by the body's Director General, Beatriz Rivera, where ENAC’s 2026 budget and activity plan were presented.

The organization estimates starting the next fiscal year with around 2,000 accredited bodies and 31 centres with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) certification, thereby consolidating its role as a key part of the quality infrastructure in Spain.

Specifically, and by category, the bodies accredited by the end of 2025 comprised: 969 testing laboratories, 159 calibration laboratories, 97 clinical laboratories, 455 inspection bodies, 265 certification bodies, 18 proficiency testing providers, 16 inspection and validation bodies, 12 environmental inspectors, 4 reference material producers, and 2 biobanks.

A year marked by legislative development and adapting to new regulations

Beatriz Rivera began by presenting the planned activities for the coming year, which will be influenced by various evolving European, national, and regional regulatory developments. She highlighted some among them, such as “the expected impact of regulations like the Battery Regulations, Cyber Resilience (CRA), Artificial Intelligence, or the Biofuels Regulation, as well as Regulation 2023/956 coming into force, which establishes the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)”.

Nationally, ENAC reaffirmed its willingness to collaborate with the various public administrations that incorporate accreditation into their regulatory frameworks: “In this regard, we expect a significant increase in activities related to environmental inspection and urban planning permits, driven by the accreditation requirements approved by several autonomous communities in 2025.”

As part of the actions aimed at promoting closer and more efficient cooperation with public administrations and regulatory bodies, Rivera has announced that “ENAC plans to publish a new document aimed at the various public administrations with the goal of providing a clear and practical view of how accreditation and accredited services can support administrative simplification processes, in line with the priorities set by the European Commission”.

Internal transformation: digitalization, collaboration with stakeholders, and new regulatory developments

On a more operational level, Rivera has also presented some internal lines of work for 2026, focused on expanding efforts in innovation and digitalization. A significant milestone will be the progressive incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI), mainly to optimize internal processes.

Moreover, she emphasized the importance of maintaining close collaboration with all stakeholders to ensure the accreditation process’ rigor and to integrate the necessary technical and professional knowledge. In this regard, and referring to ENAC’s ongoing relationship with its interest groups, the director stated that the organization “will continue to strengthen cooperation with administrations, universities, scientific societies, and the various bodies making up the quality infrastructure, both nationally and internationally, with the aim of further consolidating a solid, competitive accreditation system prepared to face future challenges, both within and beyond our borders”.

Regarding the upcoming regulatory changes, Rivera pointed out that, since the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17020, UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17065, and UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17024 standards are under review, ENAC will implement corresponding transition plans throughout the year once their review and approval processes are completed. In this regard, the director stated that "these plans will enable bodies to adapt to the new requirements in an orderly manner, ensuring the continuity of rigor and confidence in the accreditation system."

International projection: re-assessing EA, the new EA MLA mark, and the beginning of Global Accreditation Cooperation

The international arena will have a special prominence in 2026. ENAC will undergo re-assessment by European Accreditation (EA) in October, which is essential for maintaining mutual recognition agreements in Europe and globally. Likewise, ENAC's technical team is expected to participate in EA peer assessments of accreditation bodies in countries such as Slovenia, Israel, Ireland, and the Czech Republic, among others, “with the aim of continuing to contribute to the fully functioning accreditation system and to maintaining its international recognition agreements,” noted the director general.

Furthermore, 2026 will see the launch of the new EA mark, aimed at strengthening confidence in accredited conformity assessment services under the EA Multilateral Recognition Agreement: 'ENAC will make the combined EA MLA-ENAC mark available to accredited bodies at the beginning of the year,' she noted.

On January 1, activities of the new organization Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated, born from the ILAC and IAF merger, will fully commence globally. In this regard, ENAC will continue to play an active role in international working groups, participating in developing criteria and initiatives to promote awareness of accreditation in Europe and worldwide.