EA developed a document providing a full overview of EA’s structure, the international engagement, collaboration with the European Commission, Members’ duties, obligations, rights and benefits, and EA activities. The presentation shall be used in priority for newcomer CEOs and senior management when they join an EA NAB Member.

Three videos were published in 2024 to present the Certification Committee, the Laboratory Committee, and the Multilateral Agreement Council, and the collaboration between EA and the ILAC AIC. Two additional videos were also released to promote the EU MRV Shipping and Motor Vehicle regulations in which accreditation plays a key role, to facilitate the understanding of new regulations and the impact of accreditation for each of them.

EA has started in October 2024 the revamping of the EA website. The current EA website was released in 2018 and developed on WordPress by a communications agency. The objective is to renew the EA website, as the visuals and the technologies used are outdated. The new structure will enhance the visitors’ experience, based on their feedback and an analysis of the website data.

The theme for World Accreditation Day (WAD) 2024 was “Empowering Tomorrow and Shaping the Future”. As the world evolves quickly, it often outstrips standards’ development. Establishing a standard requires thorough analysis and thoughtful consideration. Consequently, standards, accreditation, and conformity assessments are frequently perceived as obstacles to progress. However, progress without standards is unattainable. New technologies invariably introduce new threats and governance challenges, necessitating robust standards to manage them effectively.

In today’s rapidly changing and dynamic business landscape, accreditation and other elements of the quality infrastructure aim to stay agile and adaptable. They strive to maintain high standards in their roles of defining and assessing compliance. What we see as innovation is usually only an evolution, where processes and standards already exist. The proven competencies of Conformity Assessment Bodies can be quickly deployed to tackle upcoming challenges, based on a solid approach and experience, and existing standards can be revised to cover new developments.

In this context, it becomes evident that standards and accreditation are reactive measures and proactive tools. They enable businesses and industries to navigate complexities and ensure that innovation is safe and sustainable.

The European Commission adopted several certification schemes, directives and regulations where accreditation and conformity assessments play a pivotal role that supports the world’s evolution, such as the EU Cybersecurity Certification Scheme on Common Criteria, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the EU Emissions Trading System, and the Proposed Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation – all aligned with the New Legislative Framework.