The theme for World Accreditation Day (WAD) 2024 is “Empowering Tomorrow and Shaping the Future.”

As the world evolves quickly, it often outstrips standards’ development. Establishing a standard requires thorough analysis and thoughtful consideration. Consequently, standards, accreditation, and conformity assessments are frequently perceived as obstacles to progress. However, progress without standards is unattainable. New technologies invariably introduce new threats and governance challenges, necessitating robust standards to manage them effectively.

In today’s rapidly changing and dynamic business landscape, accreditation and other elements of the quality infrastructure aim to stay agile and adaptable. They strive to maintain high standards in their roles of defining and assessing compliance. What we see as innovation is usually only an evolution, where processes and standards already exist. The proven competencies of Conformity Assessment Bodies can be quickly deployed to tackle upcoming challenges, based on a solid approach and experience, and existing standards can be revised to cover new developments.

In this context, it becomes evident that standards and accreditation are reactive measures and proactive tools. They enable businesses and industries to navigate complexities and ensure that innovation is safe and sustainable.

 

The European Commission adopted several certification schemes, directives and regulations where accreditation and conformity assessments play a pivotal role.

EU Cybersecurity Certification Scheme on Common Criteria

The European Commission adopted the implementing regulation concerning the EU Cybersecurity Certification Scheme on Common Criteria (EUCC). It is the first approved scheme under Regulation (EU) 2019/881 (Cybersecurity Act).

This regulation specifies the roles, rules, obligations, and structure of the European Common Criteria-based cybersecurity certification scheme in accordance with the European cybersecurity certification framework outlined in the Cybersecurity Act.

The implementing regulation refers to documents known as State-of-the-Art (SoA). There will be – inter alia – three SoA documents regarding:

  • Accreditation of ITSEFs (Information Technology Security Evaluation Facility),
  • Accreditation of Certification Bodies (CBs), and
  • Authorisation of CBs and ITSEFs.

Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive

EU law requires all large companies and medium-sized companies (except listed micro-enterprises) to disclose what they see as the risks and opportunities arising from social and environmental issues and the impact of their activities on people and the environment.

This helps investors, civil society organisations, consumers, and other stakeholders to evaluate the sustainability performance of companies, as part of the European Green Deal.

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive entered into force on the 5th of January 2023. This new EU legislation aims to accentuate the growing awareness of environmental, social, and governance factors (ESG factors). One means is moving the publication of information related to firms’ social and environmental responsibility from virtually voluntary to mandatory.

The auditing and reporting processes have been specified in the CSRD and now include the possibility of recognizing accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) as independent assurance services providers.

EU Emissions Trading System

The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is the first international emissions trading system. It was established in 2005 and is remaining the largest carbon market.

The EU ETS is a vital part of the EU policy to counteract climate change and a tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions cost-efficiently.

The EU ETS operates in the European Economic Area (EEA), covering emissions from energy-intensive industrial sectors, power and heat generation, and commercial aviation within the EU.

 

The European Commission is also developing new regulations to conjugate innovation with sustainability and transparency

Proposed Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation – aligned with the New Legislative Framework

The European Commission is working on the improvement of the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC. This directive has a long track record of delivering benefits to businesses, consumers, and the environment. In 2021 alone, the impact of the current Ecodesign measures, covering 31 product groups, saved 120 billion euros in energy expenditure for EU consumers, leading to a 10% lower annual energy consumption by the products in scope.

The new regulation shall improve the sustainability of products and products shall meet ecodesign requirements (Article 1). It also establishes a digital product passport (‘product passport’), provides for the setting of mandatory green public procurement criteria, and creates a framework to prevent unsold consumer products from being destroyed.

The objective is also to align the regulation with the new legislative framework (NLF), and include accreditation according to Regulation 765/2008, notified bodies, conformity assessment procedures (modules), and CE marking. Conformity assessment activities shall not only be related to product safety but also sustainable criteria such as durability, reliability, and carbon footprint of the products. The procedures shall be set out in delegated act(s).