The 55th EA General Assembly occurred on 22-23 May 2024 in Bruges, Belgium. The General Assembly gathered 81 participants from 45 National Accreditation Bodies (NABs), the European Commission, EFTA, and Recognized Stakeholders.

Executive Board Elections
The General Assembly elected the following EA officers for a two-year mandate starting on 1 January 2025:

President: Maureen Logghe (BELAC, Belgium)

Vice-President: Cecilie Laake (NA, Norway)

Members of the Executive Board:

  • Leopoldo Cortez (IPAC, Portugal)
  • Jesper Hoy (DANAK, Denmark)
  • Karine Vincent (COFRAC, France)
  • Gabriel Zrenner (DAkkS, Germany)

The Executive Board is responsible for implementing EA governance and financial policies, and managing the organisation (including financial management) between the meetings of the General Assembly and as directed by the General Assembly

Kristina Hallman (SWEDAC, Sweden) was appointed to succeed Gabriel Zrenner as the Horizontal Harmonization Committee Chair.

Chairs previously elected during the 2023-2024 mandate were all reconducted for a two-year mandate starting on 1 January 2025. The Technical Management Board (TMB) is comprised of:

  • TMB Chair: Inger Cecilie Laake (NA, Norway)
  • Certification Committee Chair: Casper van Erp (RvA, the Netherlands)
  • Inspection Committee: Marek Wilgos (PCA, Poland)
  • Horizontal Harmonization Committee: Kristina Hallman (SWEDAC, Sweden)
  • Laboratory Committee: Sergio Guzzi (ACCREDIA, Italy)
  • Multilateral Agreement Council Chair: Maria Papatzikou (ESYD, Greece)

Reduction of EA’s Carbon footprint
In a continuous effort to reduce its carbon footprint, and contribute to the objective of the European Commission to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050, EA members have been actively discussing how EA’s carbon footprint can be reduced over the past years.

Several options are considered and EA has already implemented some of them, such as the organization in Central Europe of one out of two meetings for each committee, and the limitation of delegates per member during the General Assembly. One new suggestion is having EA General Assemblies and Multilateral Agreement Council meetings back-to-back, as those two events usually gather the same delegates (35 delegates in common).

The potential implementation would start in 2026/2027.

Completion of Strategy 2025 actions
The implementation of Strategy 2025 has been concluded, with the closing of the two last actions:

  • Strengthen the relationship with stakeholders;
  • Liaison and cooperation with regions and other NABs.

The Strategy 2025 is available here. EA will summarize the 47 completed actions presumably during the Summer of 2024.

EA MLA Mark update
The EA MLA has 44 signatories in total. 27 are automatically eligible to use the mark through EU registration. 17 countries are concerned with international registration. Out of the 17, the mark has been registered in 3 countries: Algeria, Serbia, and Ukraine. The discussion is ongoing with the UK and Turkey, and EA is waiting for a reaction from the offices of the remaining 11 signatory countries.

HHC: Approval of 2 NWIPs
The General Assembly approved two new work items from the Horizontal Harmonization Committee (HHC):

  • Revision of the document EA-2/17 M: EA Document on Accreditation for Notification Purposes
  • Revision of the document EA-3/01 M: EA Conditions for the Use of Accreditation Symbols, Logos and other Claims of Accreditation and Reference to the EA MLA Signatory Status

Renewal of RS agreements
EA renewed its cooperation agreement with 8 recognised stakeholders (RS):

  • EFAC (European Federation of Associations of Certification Bodies)
  • EFLM (European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine)
  • EGOLF (European Group of Organisations for Fire Testing, Inspection and Certification)
  • EOQ (European Organisation for Quality)
  • EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation)
  • ERA (European Union Agency for Railways)
  • EWF (European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting)
  • IIOA (Independent International Organisation for Assurance)

The General Assembly Resolutions are available here.

The next General Assembly occurs in Portugal on 20-21 November 2024.