The 54th European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) General Assembly (GA) on 22nd and 23rd November 2023 took place in Dublin, Ireland.

The General Assembly gathered around 84 participants from 41 National Accreditation Bodies (NABs), 8 Recognized Stakeholders, and the EA Advisory Board.

Launch of the EA Communication Network
EA Members approved the terms of Reference for the EA Communications Network. The Communication Network will be a place for communications professionals to share experiences and good practices, learn new tools, and submit to peers any questions related to communications and marketing.

All EA Members and recognized Stakeholders are welcome to participate in the new Communication Network.

EA Code of Conduct
EA published a Code of Conduct for all persons and bodies working for and within EA in the framework of the EA Articles of Association and Rules and Procedures, including EA members, stakeholders, observers, and EA officers and staff.

The principles include:

  • Respecting others,
  • Behavior, non-discrimination, gender equality/equity, working for the benefit of the European community, respecting and protecting the EA’s brand and reputation, and monitoring potential non-compliance.

Click here to read the Code of Conduct

TFG Communications
The EA Executive Board established in 2022 a Task Force Group (TFG) to define the Communications Strategy and to come up with an action plan for the implementation of the Communications Strategy.

The proposed Action Plan has been presented during the General Assembly. The main objectives are:

  • Achieve more transparency regarding the EA Executive Board and EA Secretariat’s actions
  • A better integration of new members/new management representatives
  • Increase the engagement of the audience and improve the circulation of information
  • Strengthen the relationship with key stakeholders, and set up a common language tool kit for EA Members, for external communications

EA Executive Board Policy on EA-1/13 EA’s relationship with accreditation bodies of countries not being members of the EU or EFTA
The Executive Board agrees on the following policy regarding EA’s relationship with National Accreditation Bodies (NABs) that are members of other Regional Accreditation Groups (RAGs) or unaffiliated:

  1. A NAB that is a member of another recognized RAG or is unaffiliated – and that is not eligible to become an EA member according to the EA Articles of Association – may be peer evaluated by EA (only), if the European Commission requests this NAB to demonstrate compliance with the principles of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 and its competence to accredit CABs for notification purposes and/or for other EU legislations / regulatory schemes.

For this purpose, the NAB needs to sign a cooperation agreement with EA.

Any existing results of a recent peer evaluation by the other RAG (or IAF or ILAC) shall be considered in the peer evaluation by EA.

  1. A NAB eligible to become an EA member according to the Articles of Association and a full member of another recognized RAG, may be peer evaluated by EA if that RAG does not offer the MLA scope desired by the NAB under its peer evaluation system.

The NAB shall become an EA member in order to apply for the EA peer evaluation. Any existing results of a recent peer evaluation by the other RAG (or IAF or ILAC) shall be considered in the peer evaluation by EA.

As soon as the other RAG offers the scope concerned for peer evaluation, EA shall stop with the peer evaluation of the NAB and terminate the EA MLA signatory status.

 

The next General Assembly will take place on 22-23 May 2024, in Belgium.

The endorsed resolutions of the 54th General Assembly are available here.