EA has completed its Accreditation for Notification (AfN) Project, aimed at increasing harmonisation between accreditation bodies when accrediting Conformity Assessment Bodies for the purposes of Notification against EU Directives.
According Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, accreditation is defined as “an attestation by a National Accreditation Body (NAB) that a conformity assessment body meets the requirements set by harmonized standards and, where applicable, any additional requirements including those set out in relevant sectorial schemes, to carry out a specific conformity assessment activity”. Therefore, NABs have to use harmonized standards for the assessment when accreditation is used as the basis for notification. To ensure a coherent level of outcome provided by conformity assessment bodies being accredited and notified by the Member State, the accreditation by NABs should be conducted in a harmonized way throughout Europe.
Started in 2014 by a specific project team led by Kevin Belson (UKAS), the AfN project called on expertise from across EA to establish a list of Preferred Conformity Assessment Standards for each Regulation/Directive and Module. The identified standards will be used by EA members as an EA recommendation for Notified Bodies’ accreditation.
It is expected that the list of preferred standards will be published in an updated version of EA-2/17 – EA Document on Accreditation for Notification Purposes.
Further information on the AfN Project is available in its Final Report as endorsed by the EA General Assembly in May 2016, which is published in the Media Center on the EA website together with the annexed Directory of Preferred Conformity Assessment Standards per Directive/Regulation.