Why can you trust European products and services in Europe? The reason is: in Europe, we have the guarantee that every product from a European country placed on the market has been checked by a competent and impartial body and is safe for consumers.

This trust comes from a system entirely dedicated to build confidence and facilitate the circulation of safe products within the European Union. Part of this system is the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) and its multilateral recognition agreement or in short the EA MLA. EA is missioned directly by the European Commission to organise and coordinate peer evaluation amongst EA Members, and EA ensures the sustainable functioning of this system and confidence conveyed through the EA MLA.

From an external point of view, peer evaluation seems a little complicated. Controllers (National Accreditation Bodies) of the controllers (conformity assessment bodies) are regularly controlled by their peers (members of EA). The result is that once you’re accredited by an MLA signatory member, your certificates are accepted in all the other signatory members country. What does it mean and what does it imply?

EA has just released a video to help citizens and companies better apprehend the EA MLA, its impact and how it works.

You can also find more information about the EA MLA on the following page.