EA members attended the 59th EA General Assembly (GA) on 19-20 November, in Vienna, Austria, hosted by AA, the Austrian National Accreditation Body. More than 80 participants attended the meeting.
Membership of SMAS terminated
The General Assembly decided to terminate the membership of SMAS (the National Accreditation Body of San Marino) due to the non-payment of the 2025 membership fee.
EA Strategy 2030
The General Assembly endorsed the Strategy 2030: Building Trust, Innovation and Global Impact. The Strategy sets clear ambitions: to stay adaptable and future-ready, to foster consistency and coherence across all EA members, to strengthen EA’s voice with European policymakers, and to deepen the collaboration both within Europe and globally. At the heart of this strategy lies EA’s commitment to competence, transparency, and partnership — values that ensure accreditation remains a trusted foundation for sound regulation, fair trade, and public confidence.
A workshop on the implementation of the EA Strategy 2030, open to all EA Members and Stakeholders, was organized during the General Assembly with the aim of identifying actions for the implementation of the objectives defined in the Strategy 2030.
Revision of the New Legislative Framework
An important European Commission’s initiative concerns the revision of the New Legislative Framework (NLF), which sets out the principles for market access of products, CE marking and conformity assessment. A recent evaluation identified challenges such as complex documentation, unclear treatment of refurbished products and inconsistent conformity checks. The review aims to simplify rules, reduce administrative burdens and improve coherence across sectors, thus strengthening consumer safety, sustainability, and fair competition.
One essential pillar of the NLF is Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 on accreditation. The EA Position on the revision of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 can be downloaded from EA’s website.
New EA Website
EA has just published its new website. It is a fully responsive and SEO (search engine optimization) -oriented website that aims to facilitate the understanding of accreditation and conformity assessment for a broader audience.
The General Search now scans all EA documents, and the FAQ system has been revised. This will enable visitors to easily find the right document and the answers to their questions.
25th EA Anniversary
EA celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a video highlighting through several speakers the main values of EA, its history, and the challenges to be tackled in the years to come. Trust, competence, non-competition, new regulations, AI, and many more challenges await EA, but EA Members will face them as usual: together.
To watch the video, click here.
Artificial Intelligence
Ihsan Emre Bilici (TURKAK) and Yakir Jaoui (ISRAC) were nominated to co-convene the Working Group AI. This WG will review the current practices, identify gaps, and coordinate technical guidance to support consistent accreditation across Europe when Artificial Intelligence is used by the conformity assessment bodies.
The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Certification Committee, endorses the mandatory application of ISO/IEC 42006:2025 Information technology – Artificial intelligence – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of artificial intelligence management systems as the appropriate level 4 standard to be used for the accreditation of management system certification bodies that certify Artificial Intelligence Management Systems (AIMS).
ISO/IEC 17020 – Requirements for bodies performing inspection
The General Assembly adopts the following ILAC resolution, adopted at the ILAC 29th Annual General Assembly on 24 October 2025, as applicable to EA and its members:
ILAC Resolution GA 29.22
The General Assembly endorses the recommendation of the Inspection Committee to adopt a transition period of three (3) years from the date of publication of ISO/IEC 17020.
At the end of the transition period, accreditation of inspection bodies to ISO/IEC 17020:2012 will not be recognised.
The next General Assembly will be on 20-21 May 2026 in Luxembourg.
Executive SummaryThis position paper calls for the preservation of the core principles and scope of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, which…
Executive SummaryThis position paper calls for the preservation of the core principles and scope of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, which…
