ACCREDITATION INSPECTION
The Ematsa laboratory has been accredited according to the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17020 standard by the National Accreditation Body, ENAC, since 2019.
On April 30, 2016, Decree 60/2015, of April 28, came into force. This is a regulation of the Generalitat de Catalunya on environmental collaborating entities that act in the field of control and monitoring of the quality of water bodies, inspection of wastewater discharges, control of waste admission criteria in controlled deposits and other areas related to the environment.
Decree 60/2015 establishes that entities must be accredited by ENAC according to the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17020 standard and that they must be authorized by the General Directorate of Environmental Quality of the Generalitat of Catalonia to be able to act as collaborating entities of the administration in environmental matters (ECMA).
The Decree regulates, among other aspects, the necessary requirements for the authorization of collaborating entities, their operating and supervision regime, the different types of environmental control entities and their fields of action.
What is the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17020 standard?
The UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17020 standard is the international standard that establishes the requirements for the operation of bodies that carry out inspections. It defines the requirements of impartiality and independence, technical competence, management systems and processes that inspection bodies must meet. It is used by organizations that carry out inspections in areas such as industrial safety, quality control, equipment verification or vehicle inspection, among others.
As with the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard, the National Accreditation Body (ENAC) is the only body in Spain that can accredit an inspection body according to the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17020 standard. Accreditation guarantees the technical competence of the inspection body and ensures its impartiality regardless of the scope of work.
To find out if an inspection body is accredited by ENAC according to UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17020, you can consult the ENAC website (www.enac.es) directly and use the accredited body search engine or request the inspection body’s current ENAC accreditation certificate, which must include the accreditation number. Each inspection body must also have its specific scope of accreditation, which details the activities for which it is accredited.
- Accreditation title EI754
- Technical Annex No. 499/EI754
