• Activity increased by 2%, further strengthening the accredited conformity assessment infrastructure for another year.
• Accreditation provides security and trust in properly implementing public policies and supports administrative simplification processes.

ENAC presented its Activity Report 2024 during its General Assembly meeting, where José Manuel Prieto, president of the body, highlighted the impact of quality infrastructure and, specifically of accreditation, as a "fundamental tool for markets, promoting a reliable operating framework, which translates into improved efficiency and competitiveness for companies."

Within the regulatory framework, Prieto highlighted "accreditation being continuously integrating into regulation, with more than 350 European and national legislative provisions incorporating accreditation requirements, which provides security and confidence in the proper deployment of public policies and supports processes of administrative simplification, making it a very valuable tool for Public Administrations."

For her part, Beatriz Rivera, ENAC’s general director, reported that by the end of 2024, the Spanish accreditation system surpassed 2,400 accreditations, covering almost all sectors, representing a 2% growth compared to the previous year, showing increases in almost all areas of the Spanish economy, particularly in fields such as ICT, cybersecurity, sustainability, energy efficiency, and the circular economy.

Furthermore, she emphasized: “ENAC’s accreditation has continued to generate confidence in the different areas and stages of diagnostic services, reflecting an 18% growth in activity. This demonstrates the healthcare sector’s increasing support towards accreditation which means its professionals and the organizations to which they belong have services of the highest technical rigor.”

“Moreover,” she added, “we initiated new activities such as the energy savings certificate system inspection accreditation and the principle of do no significant harm to the environment (DNSH) based on the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17029 standard, which has seen an 54% increase in this activity.

Accreditation: a tool at the service of the regulator

In the context of supporting public policies, Jose Manuel Prieto also highlights that “ENAC collaborates regularly and continuously with various public administrations, both at national and regional/local levels, such as the Ministries of Industry and Tourism; Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge; Consumption or Defense; Autonomous Community governments and other bodies, such as the State Agency for Rail Safety, the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices, or the State Agency for Tax Administration (AEAT), to develop and implement new accreditation schemes that respond to the current and future needs of our country.”

Likewise, at the European level, he emphasized ENAC's involvement in legislative developments such as the European Cybersecurity Scheme or the Green Claims Directive, which is currently under development.

International recognition of accreditation and ENAC

Internationally, Beatriz Rivera reiterated the value of the ENAC accreditation as a key element in enabling the free movement of goods in the internal market and reducing technical barriers to trade, favouring Spanish companies' access to foreign markets and being a crucial component in implementing international agreements.

ENAC’s accreditation, due to the body's status as a signatory of all multilateral recognition agreements for accreditation, allows reports and certificates issued by accredited bodies to be recognized in more than 120 countries.

You can consult ENAC’s full report in the following link.