Why are peer evaluations done?
The competence and harmonious functioning of the accreditation organizations operating in different countries is ensured by recognition agreements at both the European and global level. The agreements are based on the requirement standard ISO/IEC 17011:2017 followed by accreditation organizations, internationally agreed principles and in Europe the accreditation and market surveillance regulation EC 765/2008. The requirements under the agreement are peer evaluated every four years. In accordance with the regulation, the cooperation organization of European accreditation organizations (EA) manages the peer evaluation system between national accreditation bodies. Countries participating in multilateral agreements recognize each other's accreditations as equal. Accordingly, accredited operators can take advantage of the acceptability of the results in other countries covered by the agreement, regardless of which country the accreditation was made.
Who participated in the peer evaluation and what issues were discussed in the peer evaluation?
EA's peer evaluation team that evaluated FINAS consisted of 10 team members in total, plus two trainees. Two members of the peer evaluation team will not carry out the evaluation until September 2024. The team members represented 10 different European countries. The team members come from other accreditation organizations in European countries and have been trained to perform peer evaluations. Typically, the evaluator works in his own country as the lead assessor in the local accreditation organization.
The evaluation covered the whole of FINAS’s activities and operational system. The evaluation covered all areas of accreditation: laboratories (testing, clinical, calibration), inspection, certification (person, product and system certification), verification and organization of comparison measurements. The members of the evaluator team monitored the activities of FINAS assessment teams during the assessment visit to clients. In May, a total of 13 evaluation days were observed in different sectors and two follow-up days will take place later in September. FINAS's operations were evaluated by interviewing not only the management, but also the entire FINAS staff, as well as technical evaluators, experts, and external lead assessors in connection with the evaluations.
What were the findings of the peer evaluation team?
The peer evaluation identified 15 non-conformities and 10 areas for improvement for FINAS. As one of the broadest topics, a non-conformity related to the fixed scope and flexible scope and their boundaries, and the definition of the flexible scope area was recorded. In addition, several observations related to the marking of the accreditation scope from different technical area came to the fore. Other findings dealt with e.g. describing the qualification criteria of assessors, the assessment procedures of notified bodies and the content of a assessment plans.
Outcome and follow-up of the peer evaluation
As a result of the evaluation, the peer evaluation team recommended that FINAS remain in EA's MLA. Staying in the agreement will be confirmed during the year 2025, when the documentation of the peer evaluation, such as the report on the evaluation, has been completed and the corrective actions for non-conformities recorded in the evaluation have been found to meet the requirements.
Some of the non-conformities observed during the peer evaluation will affect FINAS’s assessments and the formulation of accreditation scope in the future. Accredited customers are always contacted about the detailed needs for changes to the customer's accreditation scope, and the changes are made in cooperation with the customers. Some of the changes are related to FINAS' procedures and these will be communicated separately when the procedures are ready for implementation.