In 2016, EA defined its Strategy 2025 ‘From Good to Great’. It included three strategic objectives that translate the strategy:

1. Good governance to deliver consistent and sustainable results.
2. Close cooperation with regulators and stakeholders to strengthen accreditation at the European and international levels.
3. Continue to develop accreditation to support innovation and growth in existing and new areas.

The EA Strategy 2025 also included the definition of EA’s mission, vision, and values.

To achieve the strategic objectives, EA had defined 47 actions and established a specific implementation plan.

In May 2024, EA concluded the last actions regarding the Strategy 2025 and presented the results to the General Assembly. The main achievements for the defined strategic objectives can be summarized as follows:

1. Implementation of the ‘One Voice’ principle to strengthen harmonization of accreditation throughout Europe.
2. Establishment of a new leadership structure to strengthen strategic matters and coordinate technical activities efficiently.
3. Strengthening the EA Secretariat to provide the best service to its members and stakeholders, including the European Commission.
4. Reengineering the peer evaluation process towards an efficient and effective system that meets the expectations in the European accreditation system.
5. Strengthening the cooperation with the European Commission, EFTA, and stakeholders.
6. Promotion and application of accreditation in new (regulated) sectors.
7. Establishment of the EA MLA mark.

A new Strategy will be established before the end of 2025.

On 7 March, the five Regional Quality Infrastructure Organizations of Europe, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for electrotechnical standardization (CENELEC), the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA), the Association of the National Metrology Institutes in Europe (EURAMET), and the European Cooperation in Legal Metrology (WELMEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create the European Ql Network. In November 2024, the Product Safety Forum of Europe (PROSAFE) joined the Network as a new member, and additionally, EUROLAB, representing conformity assessment bodies, as an observer.

The Network Partners are organizations that represent, with a unique voice, their areas of activity.

Through the agreement, the Network Partners pledge to collaborate to strengthen the Quality Infrastructure in Europe, including:

• Raising awareness of QI and its benefits among industry stakeholders and the European Commission;
• Increasing the understanding and visibility of each other’s services and activities among their respective networks;
• Sharing information on matters of common interest and opportunities;
• Representing the European Quality Infrastructure at the international level.

Overall, the QI partners are committed to pooling their expertise in the fields of metrology, standardization, accreditation, conformity assessment, and market surveillance to support and enhance the quality, safety, and environmental soundness of goods, services, and processes.

The timing of creating the Network in the run-up to the European Elections is particularly relevant, as it provides the Partners with the opportunity to identify policy priorities to strengthen the European quality infrastructure, especially in influencing the new upcoming EU legislative agenda.

In 2025, EA will take over the network rotative secretariat.

In June 2022, the EA MLA mark was registered with the EU Intellectual Property Office as a collective mark of the EU, together with the relevant set of rules for use.

The EA MLA mark was registered in April 2023 with the World Intellectual Property Office as an international mark, based on the registration at the EU level. This was the starting point for bilateral discussions with the national offices of the non-EU countries of the non-EU MLA signatories.

44 signatory countries are concerned in total. At the end of 2024, the EA MLA mark was registered in 34 countries. EA is discussing the mark’s registration with the offices of the remaining countries.

The launch of the EA MLA mark is planned for summer 2025.

The cooperation with the European Commission regarding EU legislations and schemes with provisions on accreditation and conformity assessment is one of EA’s key tasks. The involvement of EA and its members in EU legislations and schemes is crucial to ensure that accreditation and conformity assessment are applied according to the European accreditation legal framework.

In 2024, 15 new EU legislations with provisions on accreditation and conformity assessment were published in the Official Journal of the EU. They are related to the following sectors:

• Union Harmonisation Legislations (Legislations under the New Legislative Framework),
• Climate / Environment,
• Sustainability / Ecodesign / Green Transition,
• Transport and
• Cybersecurity / IT Security.

More details are available in the document EA-INF/05, which lists a comprehensive directory of the published EU legislations and schemes with requirements on accreditation and conformity assessment.

End of 2024, there were 142 (128 end of 2023) EU legislations relevant for accreditation and conformity assessment on: