How to become an EA member?
EA’s membership consists of National Accreditation Body (NAB) members.
The 48 Members of EA are the National Accreditation Bodies (NAB) established in EU or EFTA countries or in a country formally identified by the EU or EFTA as potential candidate countries for EU or EFTA membership or identified by the EU in the European Commission's Neighbourhood Policy as countries of particular importance or a member State of the Council of Europe.
What is Regulation (EC) No 765/2008
for EA Members?
The European Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, setting out the requirements for accreditation, provides the legal framework for the operation of accreditation in Europe, enhancing the responsibilities of EA and National Accreditation Bodies (NAB) towards the European economy. In order to safeguard accreditation as a public authority activity and enable recognition, including equal recognition by national authorities in the Member States, specific criteria were established for National Accreditation Bodies. These specific criteria incorporate not only the EN ISO/IEC 17011 requirements, but also specific requirements summarised in EA-1/17 Supplement 1 to EA-1/17 Rules of procedure – Criteria for membership. To be a Member of EA, a National Accreditation Body (NAB) shall comply with the following criteria:
- Be appointed by the Member State as the single National Accreditation Body (NAB);
- Operate accreditation as a public authority activity with formal recognition by the Member State;
- Have clearly distinguished tasks and responsibilities from other national authorities;
- Operate on a not-for-profit basis;
- Not own shares in or otherwise have a financial or managerial interest in a Conformity Assessment Body;
- Not providing proficiency testing (PT) services;
- Not competing with other National Accreditation Bodies (NAB) in accordance with EA rules;
- Only operate across national borders, within the territory of another Member State, when the circumstances set out in the applicable legal, EA, IAF, and ILAC documents are met;
- When operating across borders, under the exceptions foreseen, it shall inform the National Accreditation Body (NAB) of that Member State and offer them the opportunity to participate as an observer;
- Publish audited annual accounts prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
- Make publicly available information on the outcome of the peer evaluations.
Application for membership shall be submitted to the EA Secretariat (secretariat@european-accreditation.org).
The EA General Assembly decides whether to accept an applicant as a Member, based on its compliance with the applicable requirements.
For more details, read:
EA Articles
of Association
EA-0/07 EA Procedure for application for EA membership or a cooperation agreement and application form
EA-1/17-S1
Criteria for
Membership
How to become an EA MLA signatory?
The EA Multilateral Agreement (EA MLA) is a signed agreement between the EA 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 (CABs) accredited by the signing members. It makes the objective ‘Accredited once, accepted everywhere’ effective.
Each signatory or applicant to the EA MLA must demonstrate compliance with a set of requirements to prove that its organization, as well as the Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) it has accredited, is competent, independent, and impartial, and meets the requirements set out in the EA, IAF, ILAC publications.
The EA MLA signatories are EA members; they shall comply with:
- the relevant requirements defined in the Articles of Association (AoA),
- the obligations specified in the Rules of Procedure (EA-1/17), and the specific membership criteria in EA-1/17-S1,
- the relevant requirements of Regulation (EC) No. 765/2008.
- the requirements of EN ISO/IEC 17011 and the supplementary criteria set out in EA mandatory documents and applicable accreditation standards used for accreditation.
The full list of requirements is available in EA-1/06 EA Multilateral Agreement – Criteria for signing – Policy and procedure for development.
When the EA Member officially becomes an EA MLA signatory, it may refer at any time to its status as a signatory to the EA MLA under specific conditions mentioned in EA-3/01 EA Conditions for the use of accreditation symbols, text reference to accreditation and reference to EA MLA Signatory status and by using the EA MLA mark in accordance with EA-3/01 Supplement 1 or Supplement 2.
The Signatory is expected to promote the EA MLA and acceptance by the marketplace of reports and certificates issued by CABs for services covered.
EA Multilateral Agreement
Criteria for signing
Policy and procedures
for development
