Spanish eyes
With a repeatedly robust performance over the years in ISO’s annual survey, Spain’s certification market is healthy and business is booming. But with standards proliferating and certification bodies beginning to saturate the market in many countries, some argue that the value of certification is decreasing. INform reports on what’s new in Spanish certification, and discovers how IRCA is working in Spain to offer a tailored service to its auditors and support effective and value-added accredited certification across the globe
A member of the European Union, Spain has a population of 41.1 million people, a gross national income per capita of US$21,210, and an estimated 22.6 per cent gross national product. Classified as a ‘high income’ country, Spain has enjoyed an economic boom since its recession of 1992, with increased investment in its major industries. Although unemployment levels remain a concern at approximately 8.42 per cent (2005), this rate is a significant decrease from previous years. In 1998 Spain was a first-wave participant in the single currency, having achieved a level of fiscal discipline and having moved rapidly to privatize the state-owned industrial structure created by Franco.
ISO survey 2004
According to ISO’s annual survey of 2004, the worldwide total of ISO 9001:2000 quality management system (QMS) certificates was 670,399 in 2004, an increase of 35 per cent over the previous year and 64 per cent over 2000, the year before the transition to ISO 9001:2000 version began. The standard is now implemented in 154 economies. However, the international growth rate of ISO 9001 has declined significantly since December 2001.
With 90,569 ISO 14001 certificates in 127 economies, an increase of 37 per cent, uptake of ISO’s environmental management system (EMS) standard is also on the rise, with the growth rate still increasing.
Table 1. The top ten countries for ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 at the end of 2004
Top ten countries for ISO 9001:2000 certificates |
Top ten countries for ISO 14001 certificates |
China: 132,926 |
Japan : 19 584 |
Italy : 84 485 |
China : 8 862 |
United Kingdom : 50 884 |
Spain : 6 473 |
Japan : 48 989 |
United Kingdom : 6 253 |
Spain : 40 972 |
Italy : 4 785 |
USA : 37 285 |
USA : 4 759 |
France : 27 101 |
Germany : 4 320 |
Germany : 26 654 |
Sweden : 3 478 |
Australia : 17 365 |
France : 2 955 |
India : 12 558 |
Korea, Rep. of : 2 609 |
Spain had 40,972 ISO 9001 certificates by the end of 2004, six per cent of the global total (see figure 1 below). Spain was the fifth most prolific user of ISO 9001, behind Japan by 8,017 certificates and ahead by two places of its European neighbours, France, which has nearly a 50 per cent higher population than Spain. Spain’s ISO 9001 2004 figure represented nearly a 29 per cent increase on its own 2003 figure. In 2003, Spain was still fifth in the list with 31,836 certificates, and a similar distance behind Japan.
ISO 14001 uptake in Spain is robust, in comparison with the rest of the world and particularly with its European counterparts. The country has moved up a place since 2003, and is now third in the world behind Japan and China with 6,473 certificates. Although it’s still significantly behind Japan, Spain still has more ISO 14001 certificates than any other European country, and is ahead of the UK by 220 certificates.
Figure 1. The ISO annual survey results for Spain for ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 between December 1999 and December 2004
Dec 2001 |
Dec 2002 |
Dec 2003 |
Dec 2004 |
|
ISO 9001 |
17,749 (ISO 9001:1994/ |
28,690 (ISO 9001:1994/ |
31,836 ISO 9001: 2000 only |
40,972 ISO 9001: 2000 only |
ISO 14001 |
2,064 |
3,228 |
4,860 |
6,473 |
Accredited certification in Spain
The Entidad Nacional de Acreditación (ENAC) is Spain’s national accreditation body, and the Spanish equivalent to the United Kingdom Accreditation Service. It is regulated by the Ministry of Science and Technology and was created under the Industry Act 21/1992 and Royal Decree 2200/95, which sets out the regulations for industrial quality and safety infrastructure.
ENAC is a private, independent and non-profit body that coordinates and manages an accreditation system in line with the criteria and standards established in the European Union and internationally. ENAC accredits bodies that engage in conformity assessment, whatever the industry in which they operate, their size, public or private ownership or membership of associations, companies, universities or research organizations.
ENAC aims to accredit, throughout Spain and using a system in line with international standards, the technical competence of certification and inspection bodies and testing and calibration labs. ENAC operates both in the voluntary quality sector and in the compulsory safety or environmental verification sector. It has joined multilateral agreements (MLAs) signed in the European Cooperation for Accreditation regarding testing, calibration, quality system certification, environmental management system certification, product certification, personnel certification and inspection.
The majority of certification bodies operating in Spain are accredited by ENAC. The biggest certification bodies in Spain are the Spanish Association for Normalization and Certification (AENOR), which certifies management systems, and the Spanish Association for Quality (AEC). AEC’s Register and Certification Centre issues European Organization for Quality certificates for certified personnel in Spain.
Other significant Spanish certification bodies are Calitax Certificacion, IVAC, ACCM, Eduqatia Certificacion and Sanitas. All of them are accredited by ENAC and certify QMSs and EMSs. Internationally recognized certification bodies in Spain are SGS, BVQI, DNV, BSI, TUV International and LRQA.
Most of the certification bodies work with QMS and EMS schemes, but some of them also have TickIT and aerospace schemes, such as the European Quality Association, or quality for the vehicle industry, such as AENOR. Other common schemes are information security management systems and health and safety. There are some certification bodies that certify commerce, education and services management systems.
The certification industry is particularly prominent in particular regions of Spain, such as Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid, where industrialization has always been dominant and the majority of certification bodies are situated.
The future
Spain is holding its own on the international arena with a steady increase in ISO 9001 certifications and a notable uptake in ISO 14001. However, both in Spain and elsewhere, attitudes to certification are not clear cut. Current concerns over the value of certification abound and call for careful consideration. There is a danger that once certification begins to saturate markets, it can be bought on the basis of low cost. If costs are thus driven down, auditor rates drop and thus attract a poorer calibre of individual, devaluing the whole certification process. This is something that many within the auditing industry are worried is already happening.
The new personnel accreditation standard, ISO 17024:2003, has been mooted by some as a panacea – an all-encompassing way of accrediting auditor certification bodies and establishing competence. Although IRCA plans to be accredited to this relatively new standard this year, the standard must be viewed realistically. The US’s auditor certification body, RABQSA, cancelled the requirements for auditors to transfer to ISO 17024 certification scheme in 2005 – so in practice it hasn’t been seen as the ultimate catch-all by the market. It has become apparent that ISO 17024 must work in tandem with other initiatives to ensure auditor competence, not in isolation.
It is an issue that is not consigned to one country – it is important that all major bodies work together to create an accreditation structure that is useful to all its end users. IRCA hopes to work with national bodies around the world and other major players in the industry to rise to the challenge and provide some solutions.
IRCA in Spain
With the number of IRCA auditors in Spain rapidly increasing, IRCA has identified increasing demand in Spain so has formulated a tailored service for the country’s auditors, including:
- a new Spanish language website: spain.irca.org
- this quarterly IRCA INform magazine published in Spanish
- Spanish speaking certification officers in IRCA’s London offices to answer questions and provide help and support to auditors. All forms and documents are provided in Spanish.
- a Spanish language Knowledge Bank with articles, case studies and information to support auditor development
What is new
- the first certification in Spain of new food standard ISO 22000 took place at the end of 2005. ISO 22000 attempts to harmonize all food control aspects, stating all international requirements to ensure safety in the food chain. The company awarded was Angulas Aguinaga SA
- Spanish commerce has leapt across electronic trade barriers with a consolidated digital certification system that promises secure virtual trade on an international level. Spanish banks began recently issuing digital certificates from the Agencia de Certificacion Electronica, making the company among the first in the world to unite national electronic payment entities under the international secure electronic transactions (SET) standard
Please contact IRCA for more details at www.irca.org, or visit the new Spanish version on spain.irca.org