What is ENAC accreditation?

What is ENAC?

The quality of a product, a service or a production process is usually validated by a measurement, whatever the sector of activity considered. Therefore, calibration of the equipment used to perform this task is essential to ensure the reliability of the measurement.

The use of an accredited calibration guarantees traceability to the International System of Units and confidence in the result.

The Entidad Nacional de Acreditación (ENAC) is the entity designated by the Spanish Government to operate in Spain as the only National Accreditation Body, in application of Regulation (EC) No. 765/2008 which regulates the operation of accreditation in Europe and which is based on five fundamental principles:

Activities that are credited:

• Essay
• Calibration
• Clinical Laboratories
• Biobanks
• Inspection
• Certification of management systems
• Product Certification
• Certification of persons
• Control bodies and notified bodies
• Validation and verification
• Greenhouse Gas Verifiers
• Environmental verifiers

Other technical services that are accredited:

• Good Laboratory Practice (GLP)
• Technical support for scheme development
• Training

Importance of correct calibration

Incorrect measurement results can have serious consequences for manufacturing processes and additional costs for companies. Therefore, confidence in the measurements made is essential and requires calibration of the equipment used, carried out by a competent and impartial body. An accredited calibration ensures that the calibrated equipment provides reliable and traceable measurements to the International System of Units.

Thanks to multilateral agreements, the calibration certificate issued is recognized in a large number of countries around the world, facilitating trade in products and services.
Recognition of competence in calibrating equipment is a means of winning new business, as many of the organisational standards used by companies require traceability of measurements to the International System of Units.

The accredited laboratories cover the different areas of calibration: temperature, electrical, mechanical, optical, dimensional, among others, in a wide range of magnitudes and equipment, from the most common (weighing instruments, presses, electrical meters) to the most specific or innovative as video signals, thermometric cameras, fiber optic analyzers, which provide their services to all types of industries.

The European reference standard for the accreditation of a calibration laboratory is UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17025.

International validity of the quality criteria:

How are these agreements established and maintained?
The international recognition agreements relevant to Spain and other European countries are established and managed by 3 organisations:

1.The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC)

This organization is involved in the mutual recognition of accreditations for laboratories, inter-laboratory comparison bodies, reference material producers and inspection bodies, with a worldwide scope of recognition.

2.The International Accreditation Forum (IAF)
This global organization is involved in the mutual recognition of accreditations of certification and verification bodies, with a worldwide scope of recognition.

3.The European co-operation for Accreditation (EA)

In addition, information on this issue can be found at the following agencies:
– EURAMET:(www.euramet.org) you can find guidelines for the calibration of certain instruments.
– C.E.M. Spanish Metrology Centre.(http://www.cem.es)

Many countries have their national accreditation bodies with a similar operation to ENAC. In the United States, for example, there are different organizations depending on the areas of standardization.

List of national accreditation bodies:

info
https://www.iafcertsearch.org/accreditation-body/a34f9415-eac5-5055-944f-8d95e17ba5b5