The Cross Frontier Accreditation is regulated by several legal and described by guidance documents:
- 765/2008 EU Regulation (especially Article 7)
- EA-2/13 M: 2019, EA Cross Border Accreditation Policy and Procedure for Cross Border Cooperation between EA Members
- SOGS N595 EN REV6 CERTIF 2009-06 rev6 – Cross Border Accreditation Activities (Document type: “Note”)
- EA HHC Questions & Answers (QnAs (3.) Cross Frontier issues)
In the case of multinational CABs the SOGS N595 EN REV6 says: “CABs may provide their services to clients in other Member States on the basis of free provision of services without having to be established there”
Another say: “CABs may provide their services to clients in other Member States on the basis of free provision of services without having to be established there”
The solution for multinational companies as the “Note” says: “The CAB with local sites (regardless of their legal personality), provided that the latter operate under the same global quality system and management and that the head office has the means to substantially influence and control their activities, can be considered as being only one organisation with regard to the conformity assessment activity carried out”.
“The accreditation certificate issued by the NAB where the head office is established names one legal entity – the head office – and it is this legal entity which holds the accreditation and which is responsible for the accredited activities of the CAB, including any activity performed by the local site that forms part of the scope of the accreditation.” – This means that the accredited head office must enforce all requirements against the client.
EA-2/13 M: 2019 5.1.1: “Accreditation covering multiple locations is only possible where all the activities can fall under the responsibility of a single legal entity.” (See also 5.1.5.)
Does the following case study meet the requirements for the CFA?
The head-office of the multinational CAB holds the accreditation. However, commercial contracts for delivering conformity assessment services are concluded between the local branch office and its clients. While the client has no (legally enforceable) contract/agreement with the accredited CAB.
This situation is not acceptable if the contract signed between the client and the local Branch Office prevents from keeping the responsibility for the activities performed at the accredited CAB level. The client remains the client of the CAB (Head office) and not the client of the Branch Office.
Commercial contracts for delivering conformity assessment services concluded between the local branch office and the clients meet the CFA requirements provided that the Branch office B has been given this responsibility by CAB A (according to 5.1.1 of EA-2/13), which is monitoring it (see 5.1.4 of EA2/13), and if CAB A is clearly mentioned in the contract and remains responsible for the activities to be provided (see EA-2/13 5.1.7 and Annex chapter 3 third §).