On 17 January 2017, Peter Kronvall from SWEDAC, the Swedish national accreditation body, was elected the new Director of the IAF Board Representing High-Income Economies.

Peter Kronvall is succeeding Geir Samuelsen from NA, the Norwegian national accreditation body (NAB), who is leaving the “accreditation world” for a new position in the Norwegian state administration.

With a wealth of twenty-year experience in accreditation, Peter Kronvall has been chairing the EA Communications and Publications Committee (CPC) since 2014. Peter will share not only his accreditation knowledge in general, but also his experience in communication gained from the leadership of the EA CPC. Peter’s knowledge of the industry sector and customer needs is another essential asset which the IAF Board Representing High-Income Economies can take advantage of.

It proves the utmost importance for EA to have representatives within the IAF Board of Directors and Executive Committee, at which Peter is joining Emanuele Riva from ACCREDIA, the Italian NAB, holding the position of IAF Vice-Chair. Clearly Peter’s election is strengthening EA’s clout in IAF, offering a reinforced possibility to influence IAF’s work with European approaches to accreditation, as well as to benefit from IAF’s best practice to be spread in EA.

Finally this new election fits quite well the new EA Strategy 2025, whose strategic objectives notably advocate a “close cooperation with regulators and stakeholders to strengthen accreditation at the European and international levels”.