The AfN (Accreditation for Notification) report was just updated in April 2025 to cover one new piece of legislation: Construction Products Regulation (EU) 2024/3110 («new» CPR).
According to Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 accreditation is defined as “an attestation by a National Accreditation Body (NAB) that a conformity assessment body meets the requirements set by harmonized standards and, where applicable, any additional requirements including those set out in relevant sectorial schemes, to carry out a specific conformity assessment activity”. Therefore, NABs have to use harmonized standards for the assessment when accreditation is used as the basis for notification.
Harmonized standards for the accreditation of Conformity Assessment Bodies / Notified Bodies are:
- EN ISO/IEC 17020 Conformity assessment – Requirements for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection
- EN ISO/IEC 17021-1 Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems – Part 1: Requirements
- EN ISO/IEC 17024 Conformity assessment – General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons
- EN ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories
- EN ISO/IEC 17065 Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services
The Union Harmonization Legislations don’t stipulate which harmonized standard(s) have to be used, that means Notifying Authorities and/or NABs may choose the appropriate harmonized standard for each of the Union Harmonization Legislations and the related modules. As a consequence, the Conformity Assessment Bodies in different member states have to meet different requirements with significant effects, inter alia, that:
- Accreditations may not be comparable
- The competence of the accredited bodies may be compromised,
- Diversity of expenditures and hence unfair competition for the Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) in Europe,
- This could confuse the marketplace.
The accreditation by NABs should be conducted in a harmonized way throughout Europe, to ensure a coherent level of outcome provided by CABs being accredited and notified by the Member State.
EA started in 2014 the AfN project, aiming at harmonizing the accreditation requirements used as basis for notification by defining the preferred harmonized standards for each Union Harmonization Legislation.
In addition to the 34 legislations and related modules published in December 2024 for which preferred harmonized standards for accreditation have been defined, the updated report now covers one new legislation: Regulation (EU) 2024/3110 – «new» Construction Products Regulation. The report includes a justification for selecting the preferred harmonized standard for each legislation and module.
The results of the AfN project are included in EA-2/17 EA Document on Accreditation for Notification Purposes, which is currently under revision.
Click here to download the full report. You can also find this document in Information Center > Newsroom > Promotional materials > EA Technical Reports.