Opening of the General Assembly of the European co-operation for Accreditation

*Sjekkes mot fremføring*

 

Good morning ladies and gentlemen!

First of all I bid you a warm welcome to Oslo. A very fine city in a rapid development.

I am very pleased that Norwegian Accreditation hosts this General Assembly of the European co-operation for Accreditation.

It is also a pleasure to open today’s meeting by giving some thoughts on accreditation in a political and European context.

 

As some of you may know, a change in leadership recently has occurred in Norway.

The new centre-right government has a proactive approach to Norway’s industries and businesses.

One of our most important goals is to create an easier life, with less red tape, not only for citizens, but also for businesses. To achieve this, we need to pursue a responsible economic policy with predictable business conditions.

We want businesses, entrepreneurs, owners and employees to have more time to be productive and retain more of the value they create and spend less time adhering to complicated regulations. This secures jobs and paves the way for new initiatives.

Accreditation simplifies the daily life of businesses, as it creates confidence in test results and eliminates the need to duplicate testing in other markets.

In Norwegian everyday speech, when something is described as “standard”, this usually means that it is very normal, not below, not above the expectations.

But what “standard” really is, is something quite unique. In fact it has been the prerequisite for economic growth and trade:

• As a former student of economic history mass production after the industrial revolution would not have been possible without standard sizes on nuts and bolts.
• And, the massive growth in international trade after World War 2 was partly made possible by the introduction of the standard size shipping containers.

In modern society, we are completely dependent on certain things being standardised and accreditation is key to making that happen.  

The economic importance of accreditation stems from the fact that it provides an authoritative statement of the technical competence of bodies whose task is to ensure conformity with applicable requirements and standards.

 

Accreditation contributes to ensuring that goods and services meet stringent requirements, especially in areas such as health, safety and the environment.

And just to illustrate the span: Norwegian Accreditation offers accreditation in areas such as water quality, fish farms and greenhouse gas emissions.

Few economies are as open as the Norwegian and we are heavily dependent on international trade. Accreditation and standards are increasingly important in a globalised world. I am happy to learn that European co-operation for Accreditation has a strong presence in the international accreditation organisations ILAC and IAF.

Europe is at the forefront of utilizing accreditation to enhance trade and accreditation is one of the ways to secure economic growth and prosperity.

The Regulation on accreditation, adopted in 2008, reinforces accreditation as a central element of the system for harmonising product requirements in the EU. The Regulation has been incorporated into the EEA Agreement, and is the legal basis for the organisation and operation of Norwegian Accreditation. 

The Regulation establishes that accreditation should be considered a public authority activity, and that national accreditation bodies should operate on a not-for-profit basis. Even though accreditation is mainly a self-supporting activity, we see that government contributions to the financing of certain activities are needed. Such activities relate to participation in international accreditation organisations, technical assistance and information activities.

The Regulation on accreditation recognizes EA as the European infrastructure for accreditation. But this new role created many challenges, both for national accreditation bodies and EA.

The peer evaluation system, organized by EA, is the cornerstone of the European accreditation system. The system ensures consistency and equivalence of the accreditation practices across Europe, and enables the mutual recognition, by national authorities and the marketplace, of accreditation certificates, and the attestations issued by accredited conformity assessment bodies. This is crucial to the functioning of the common market.

We have for some years observed and appreciated the efforts EA and its members have put into further developing the European accreditation system, in line with the new legislation. We are pleased that the director general of Norwegian Accreditation, Geir Samuelsen, will be able to contribute to this work in his role as EA Vice-Chair.

 

In his Nobel prize-speech in 2012, when the peace prize was awarded to the EU, Thorbjørn Jagland, chairman of the Nobel committee, underlined the importance of economic cooperation aimed at making European countries equal partners in the European marketplace.

By these means the countries would be bound together, avoiding wars and through peace and prosperity - achieving common economic growth. Accreditation is a necessary contributor to that historic goal.

 

Ladies and gentlemen!

Accreditation is an effective tool to ensure that goods and services adhere to strict quality and safety requirements. To this end, the cooperation of European accreditation bodies in EA plays an important role in removing technical barriers to trade and in bringing our national markets closer together, in line with the principles underpinning European co-operation.

It is a pleasure to see you gathered here today, and I wish you all the best in your continued efforts to maintain and further develop a strong and credible European accreditation system.

I wish you the best of luck in your future work and a productive meeting here today!