News

Involvement with the European Commission on future legislations
EA Members have been raising for the past years a real concern about how to cope with the need for accreditation generated by the development of European legislation in an increasing number of areas. 

How to best serve and support sound legislation?

The previous Strategy had identified a need to reinforce the Secretariat’s technical resources. The objective has been fulfilled with the recruitment of Maureen van den Wijngarrt, the new EA technical manager. Maureen started on the 1^st of May 2026 and is already very much involved in many discussions with the EC services.

Since the beginning of 2026, EA has hosted several workshops, many of them about new regulations but also on new developments, i.e., the consultation workshop on the Commission recognition of certification schemes under the CRCF Regulation on 10 April.

Thanks to the tight and constant cooperation with the European Commission, EA is increasingly involved well in advance and proactively in future and revised regulations.

To inform the accreditation community on these new developments, EA has established channels to provide information on EU legislation and new developments, such as the regular update of EA-INF/17 Register of EA resolutions for use by EA, National Accreditation Bodies and EA evaluators, or on the EA website in the news category.

Adoption of the Implementation of the EA Strategy 2030
The EA Strategy 2030 was approved and published in November 2025.  As a result of the May 2026 meeting, the GA approved the proposed implementation plan.

How to implement the Strategy?

A specific plan has been designed.

Harmonisation continues to rank high in the plan objectives. Improving the peer evaluation system is also a high priority. Discussions have already started in the MAC in a workshop that took place on 30 May 2026 during the MAC meeting. How AI and other digital tools could help improve the PE process is under discussion.  The EA WS held on 28 May will give valuable insight into the reflections for the EA system.

The Secretariat will assess opportunities arising from the introduction of AI and new digital tools in EA operations. The EA budget will set limits, but the team is ready for changes where repetitive tasks can be transferred appropriately.

To continue reinforcing the dialogue with stakeholders, a project is underway to develop a “public-consultation-like” platform on the EA website. It will start in 2026, aiming to give stakeholders and all interested parties the means to give EA their feedback, formulate expectations, and create closer links between EA and everyone concerned by accreditation and Conformity Assessment services.

EA MLA Mark
The EA MLA mark has been registered in all MLA signatory countries except Switzerland. EA NABs have started to use the mark. 18 NAB members in all have expressed so far their wish to use the mark. The current question is about how to use the EA MLA mark and the ILAC/IAF and soon GLOBAL MLA mark together. In Luxembourg, it was decided to check legal aspects regarding protection of the EA mark and to survey the needs and expectations of potential users, in particular accredited CABs: why to use the EA mark, what does the mark say about my accreditation, my competence and acceptance of my services? What is the international mark saying? What if both marks are used together?

IIOA and TIC Council offered to assist and survey their members. Feedback will be used to confirm a policy and agree with GLOBAL on aligned rules aiming to support equally the promotion of each MLA.

Revision of the NLF
How is the revision going? Some background elements.

With this revision, and building on the findings of the 2022 evaluation of the NLF, the European Commission aims to address the shortcomings that were identified and ensure a framework that is fit for the future and aligned with the objectives of the circular economy and digitalisation. 

Revision of the NLF is on the European Commission Work Programme 2026. The objective is to develop a new European Product Act (EPA) covering the revision of Regulation 765, Decision 768, Regulation 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products, Regulation 1025/2000 on European Standardisation.

According to EC representatives, revision is progressing well. For the time being, publication of a draft legislative text at the beginning of the 4^th quarter of the year remains realistic.

What are the next stages?

On 22 June 2026, the Regulatory Scrutiny Board will meet. The Regulatory Scrutiny Board is an independent body within the Commission that advises the College of Commissioners. It provides central quality control and support for Commission impact assessments and evaluations at early stages of the legislative process.

Cooperation with Global ACI
The EA General Assembly was pleased to welcome Brahim Houla, the Chair of Global ACI. He reported on progress with the revision and approval of the Global ACI Constitution. A special GA online meeting is planned on 18 June to vote on the revised text.

132 members (126 full and 50 stakeholder members) will be needed to reach the quorum (75% of the eligible voting members) at the virtual meeting. According to the rules, the final proposal for the Constitution has been distributed to the members in advance of their vote. The new proposal addresses the following points:

• About the conflict between national law and Global ACI requirements. It is now reflected that national law has precedence.
• Global ACI must not operate for the purpose or with the effect of entering into market competition.

The 2 points were raised by EA and discussed at large. During the Global ACI GA in Prague (April 2026), Maureen Logghe (the EA President) made a presentation, which was much appreciated; it effectively clarified EA’s position and rationale for it.

After several meetings with the lawyers of EA, Global ACI and several EA members, a compromise was found, reflected in the final text submitted to the members’ vote.

The vote will be online and secret. The system will be tested by the Secretariat in advance of the 18 June meeting. The result of the vote will be disclosed before the end of the meeting.

Brahim Houla exhorted the EA members to accept the new text, which considers EA’s concerns. It is now time to move forward.

Farewell
4 key figures announced they would soon leave the scene: Leopoldo Cortez (IPAC), Stephan Finke (DAkkS), Boštjan Godec, and Ulf Hammarström (SWEDAC). Each of them expressed their appreciation of the experience gained in EA. The GA paid them a warm tribute for their constructive and contribution to the debates and wished them the best for their future projects.

EA Resolution 2026 (60) 13
The General Assembly, acting upon recommendation from the Certification Committee, agrees that the application of the following Level 4 standards shall be considered under the EA MLA:

• ISO/IEC 27706: Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of privacy information management systems (ex 27006-2) — Published 2025
• ISO/TS 21030: Educational organizations — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of educational organizations’ management systems – Published 2023
• ISO 14019–4: Principles and requirements for bodies validating and verifying sustainability information — Published 2026
• ISO 14066: Environmental information – Competence requirements for teams validating and verifying environmental information — Published 2023

The next EA General Assembly will take place on 25-26 November 2026 in Marseille, France.