Interview with Antonio Muñoz, Assistant Director-General of Industrial safety and quality and President of ENAC

Antonio Muñoz Muñoz is an Industrial Engineer by the Superior School of industrial engineers of Madrid and compatible its responsibilities as Deputy Director-General for quality and Industrial Security of the Ministry of industry, tourism and trade with the President of the national entity of accreditation (ENAC). In the same way it holds Spain presentation to the European Union in the field of the Industrial safety and quality, and regulatory and approval of vehicles. He is also member of the Standing Committee of the Association of standardization and certification of AENOR and distinguished member of the Spanish Association for quality (AEC). To all this must be added the Chair of the Organizing Committee of the commercial contest Qualimetrics, fair quality, calibration, metrology and instrumentation, whose second edition was held at the Feria Valencia from 24 to 26 May 2006.

From my experience these years, as President of the national accreditation entity, support and knowledge for the benefit of turn the meeting into an enriching experience for all entities, organizations and participating companies, which, undoubtedly, will be enriching for own growth in the sector of conformity assessment.

We want to help bring together companies and major institutions and offer the visitor a global vision and full of the sector, where you can find the solutions that they are more adapted to your professional profile and that it can also form both in the implementation of these solutions with the rules that affect him or her.

I hope that the meeting is professionally useful and motivating for everyone.

ENAC aims to provide the Spanish market of an infrastructure of independent and competent conformity assessment bodies, which meet requirements established internationally, in such a way that is provided to the manufacturer access to the global market, to be able to demonstrate in a unique wayreliable and recognized, both the national consumer and international, that their products comply with the requirements which they apply.

ENAC is to generate confidence in the market and in society in the technical competence of accredited conformity assessment bodies, thus contributing to a better protection of people and the environment and to increase the competitiveness of products and Spanish services.

In this context Qualimetrics provides a suitable framework to display the value it provides accreditation, as a key instrument for private initiative and public authorities in the development of modern conformity assessment systems, parts basic Spanish society to enjoy products and secure services that meet the ever greater expectations of consumers.

Our participation will allow us to bring to the market, through the professional visitors of the fair, the benefits and advantages for services of testing and calibration laboratories, inspection and certification accredited by ENAC entities.

Yes. In fact the industrial sector, throughout the world, has been the driving force behind this activity. Accreditation, intra-EU emerges associated with the process of development of the common market, as a key tool that promotes the Elimination of technical barriers, evolving to become the means adopted by the majority of countries to generate confidence in the performance of assessors to the line as an element to facilitate international trade.

The first experiences of its application were conducted in the field of testing and calibration laboratories, as assessors to the line more directly involved in the determination of the technical characteristics of the products. As a result of the above-mentioned developments, both the number of accredited laboratories as of technical fields in which they operate has grown continuously in recent years. And demand is growing day by day.

Currently the range of services provided by evaluators in the accordance with access to the accreditation is very broad. Today any conformity assessment activity, before almost of action the accreditation as a necessity arises.

Such is the case of certification of products, processes and services, which are being incorporated, not only traditional manufactured products but the agri-food products. This type of certification is often involve multiple assessment activities such as testing, inspection of manufacturing processes and, sometimes, audit of the system of quality, all oriented to each product.

Certification of services activity is also experiencing a strong growth at the international level. The weight of this sector in the economy is greater every day, and citizens are more and more services for both private as the management company. And their level of demand on the quality of these services do nothing but grow.

Another area of certification that access to the accreditation is to management systems, which include the certification of management systems of quality - the more popularized activity with regard to its implementation in enterprises-Environmental management and management of information security systems.

Also in the field of inspection is currently very active. The accreditation of institutions of regulatory industrial inspection and inspection technique of vehicle had been joined the entities that carry out their activity in a other sectors. Such is the case of the environmental sector (inspections relating to the quality of air, emissions and inmisions, noise, etc.) and the food and agriculture, in which the inspection entities verify compliance with specific requirements, such as the implementation of certain agricultural practices, adequacy of the processes of manufacture, etc. Providing its services product certification bodies as well as the industry itself.

ENAC was conceived as a tool made available to all economic sectors, and with this vocation of service to Government and private initiative has been working.

The ENAC accreditation, in the regulatory area, are required or accepted in different areas of the Administration, in sectors as varied as industry, environment, agriculture, food, health and defence. Examples of this are the regulations existing in the field of industrial safety, environmental inspectorate, protected names of food products, certification of projects r & d, etc.

In the voluntary area there are many sectors where having accredited by ENAC is a requirement of the national and international market (certification ISO 9000 and 14000, the certification of agricultural and food products with both the Spanish market and the export destination)(, etc.) and it is a key element to ensure the chain of traceability of calibration laboratories.

ENAC accreditation service is, and it has always been, in perfect harmony with the guidelines that will inspire the future legislation which, on this item is currently in the European Commission and has the maximum credibility in the international arenato occupy a prominent place in the international organizations of acreditadores (as at European level and ILAC) and IAF at the international level and be signatory to all the multilateral recognition agreements established by these organizations.

We will continue responding to the needs of the market, open to those activities of conformity assessment that can sue the market, more and more global and demanding, aware that the accreditation represents an added value for any technical agent that you want to demonstrate their capacity and rigour in the work they perform.

ENAC will every day improving the service that provides to its clients, being a tool increasingly effective at the service of private initiative and public administrations and establishing stronger relations with the society it serves every day. This is the only way to follow and is a commitment shared throughout the organization which I Chair.

I hope that this meeting will become an excellent opportunity to address the latest developments and trends. For all it will be an enriching experience that will allow us to gather knowledge to help us continue providing value to this market. There are many competing sectors in Qualimetrics, and hopefully all them to become involved and contribute to the development of the quality of the sector.

I am convinced that is the right time and the place for all involved sector can interact and, in turn, increase your customer base with markets increasingly immersed in the process of business improvement and continuous development of face to seek their differentiation in an increasingly competitive and globalised world.