2017 was an intensive year for EA and I’m very proud to conclude it with the publication of this new EA annual report. In this report we will give you facts and numbers and highlight the numerous projects in which the EA Members and the secretariat have been actively involved.
Summarizing all the actions managed in 2017 proved to be a complex exercise as EA Secretariat and EA Members were so dedicated and effective to ensure their fundamental mission: provide confidence in accredited conformity assessments results in support of European and global economies.
To facilitate your reading, we did our best to give structure to information: each chapter will start with keys words meant to quickly understand the items developed. These key words will also be listed at the end of the document in a glossary. In terms of content, you will see first an introduction on EA activities, then a presentation of 2017 major results and highlights, and the last pages of EA report will be dedicated to EA financial results and practical information about EA in particular, overview of changes in EA publications, presentation of EA 50 National Accreditation Body Members and EA MLA signatories.
In this foreword I will just refer to some of the projects we took part in over the year, you will see details of the objectives, progress and achievements made in the following pages; my objective with this is to give you a scale of relevance of EA implication: implementation of the new EA Strategy 2025, significant efforts developed by all involved in order to fulfill a full peer evaluation program and improve the peer evaluation system, proactive discussions on revision of standards to enhance harmonization, closer and trustful relations with the European Commission and its main Directorates Generals (DGs) to support and further develop the European accreditation infrastructure, involvement at the international level to prepare common positions on global issues and remarkable development of EA communications for the promotion of accreditation.
All these examples demonstrate how EA has been acting to be a reference in the world for accreditation that enables an open and global market for competitive business to facilitate trade and provide reassurance to consumers in a sustainable environment.
I am very grateful for the support of EA Members, Recognized Stakeholders and EA Secretariat as behind all the projects managed in 2017, there is nothing less than the outstanding commitment and work of highly motivated and valuable professionals. Thank you all!
Dr Andreas Steinhorst, EA Executive Secretary