The EA Multilateral Agreement (MLA) Council has just met for its 40th meeting in Budapest (Hungary) on 3-4 October 2018.

During this meeting, hosted by the Hungarian Accreditation Body, the EA Multilateral Agreement Council (MAC) which manages the peer evaluation process and decides on MLA signatories, took the following decisions:

  • BSCA, the National Accreditation Body of Belarus, becomes an EA-BLA signatory in the fields of Calibration, Testing, Product Certification, Management Systems Certification, Certification of Persons. Congratulations to BSCA!
  • BAS, the National Accreditation Body of Bulgaria, remains an EA-MLA signatory in the fields of Calibration, Testing (including Medical Examinations according to ISO 15189), Inspection, Product Certification, Management Systems Certification, Certification of persons and GHG Validation and Verification.
  • CYS-CYSAB, the National Accreditation Body of Cyprus, remains an EA-MLA signatory in the fields of Calibration, Testing (including Medical Examinations according to ISO 15189) and Inspection.
  • LATAK, the National Accreditation Body of Latvia, remains an EA MLA signatory in the fields of Calibration, Testing (including Medical Examinations according to ISO 15189), Inspection, Product Certification, Management Systems Certification, Certification of Persons and GHG Validation and Verification.
  • IARM, the National Accreditation Body of The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, remains an EA-MLA signatory in the fields of Calibration, Testing (including Medical Examinations according to ISO 15189), Inspection and Product Certification and becomes an EA-MLA signatory in the field of Management Systems Certification.
  • RvA, the National Accreditation Body of The Netherlands, remains an EA-MLA signatory in the fields of Calibration, Testing (including Medical Examinations according to ISO 15189), Inspection, Proficiency Testing Providers, Product Certification, Management Systems Certification, Certification of Persons and GHG Validation and Verification.
  • RvA and UKAS, the National Accreditation Body of the United Kingdom, are the first two EA-MLA members having been successfully evaluated for accreditation in the field of Reference Materials Producers. Congratulations to them!
    The decision will come into force and UKAS and RVA will effectively become MLA signatories for RMP as soon as the MLA is launched, which will be in accordance with EA Resolution 2017 (39) 19 when at least three EA members will be successfully peer-evaluated.

All these decisions are effective from the 4th October 2018.

This meeting was also the opportunity to discuss:

– the peer evaluations in (third) countries with security problems: the MAC endorsed the proposal of the Chair to require EA GA to approve a new item proposal for the revision of EA-2/02 to include provisions related to the respective responsibilities of EA and NABs for the peer evaluators carrying out peer evaluations in (third) countries with security problems.

– the revision of the MAC Terms of Reference (ToR): during the meeting the MLA Council approved the revised MAC ToR, which shall be endorsed by the EA GA November 2018. The revision was made to update the EA documents referred to in the document, and clarify the provision related to the voting members and the responsibilities of the MAC. Additionally, the MLA Council approved the criteria to be met by MAC Management Group Members.The relevant document will be published as an Annex to the MAC ToR.

The next MAC meeting will be hosted by ISAC, the National Accreditation Body of Iceland, in May 2019.




EA Multilateral Agreement (MLA)
The EA Multilateral Agreement (EA MLA) is a signed agreement between the EA Full Members whereby the signatories recognize and accept the equivalence of the accreditation systems operated by the signing members, and also the reliability of the conformity assessment results provided by Conformity Assessment Bodies accredited by the signing members.
A Bilateral Agreement (BLA) between an EA Associate Member and EA has the same purpose and bilateral signatories to the EA MLA shall meet the same requirements as EA Full Members.

Peer Evaluation Process
The strength of the EA MLA is maintained through a robust peer evaluation process. The main objective of the peer-evaluation activities is to evaluate the on-going compliance of the National Accreditation Bodies to the internationally agreed requirements and to ensure that regulators, stakeholders and the business community can have confidence in certificates and reports issued by Conformity Assessment Bodies under the EA MLA.

Further information about the EA Multilateral Agreement and the peer evaluation process is available on EA’s website.