Accreditation & Standardisation

The A&S Working Group focuses on strengthening accreditation and standardisation processes to support laboratory and conformity assessment services across Europe. Key priorities include ensuring accreditation for emerging EU legislation; addressing standards revisions and new work items; and enhancing representation and cooperation with national standardization and accreditation bodies. Currently, key topics include: 

 

Harmonization of Accreditation Procedures: The group is actively engaged in ongoing dialogue on the application of EA 2/17 for accreditation in diverse regulatory areas, emphasizing the importance of consistent practices across the EU. The group also actively discusses the revision of Regulation 765. Lastly, the group contributes to the European Quality Infrastructure Network.

 

New Legislation Impacts: The group addresses emerging EU legislation areas, such as artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity (CS), and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, and the expanding role of accreditation. 

 

Standardization Challenges: Persistent issues with the lack of  harmonized standards remain a priority. EUROLAB advocates for the use and development of harmonized standards, instead of having additional parallel requirements such as technical specifications that can create further confusion and fragmentation.