- Among other aspects, this collaboration includes the launch of the "Spanish Quality Infrastructure" website, which aims to raise awareness of the importance of strong quality infrastructure in Spain.
- The joint work of UNE, CEM and ENAC in standardisation, metrology and accreditation will boost the competitiveness of Spanish production in addition to providing security and confidence in products and services.
Madrid, 14 July, 2023 - The Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, the Spanish Metrology Centre (CEM), and the National Accreditation Entity (ENAC) today signed a collaboration protocol to promote quality infrastructure in Spain. Strong quality infrastructure contributes to increasing the competitiveness of sectors of activity and to the Spanish economic and industrial fabric, improving the effective functioning of the EU Internal Market and access to third country markets.
Among other aspects, this collaboration includes the launch of the "Spanish Quality Infrastructure" website, which aims to raise awareness of the importance of strong quality infrastructure in Spain. The CEM, ENAC and UNE are the strategic partners that comprise the three main pillars of the quality infrastructure in Spain. The joint work of these three entities in standardisation, metrology and accreditation leads to an improvement in the competitiveness of the Spanish productive fabric.
The new "Spanish Quality Infrastructure" website contains practical and interesting information about quality infrastructure, its purpose, the pillars on which it is based (standardisation, metrology and accreditation), success stories, interesting links and a contact for further information.
UNE, CEM and ENAC signed the agreement in the presence of the Director General for Industry and SMEs, María Muñoz, and the Deputy Director General for Industrial Quality and Safety of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, José Manuel Prieto, at a ceremony held at the Ministry's headquarters.
The Director General for Industry and SMEs of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism highlighted the essential role played by quality Spanish infrastructure as a tool to provide maximum guarantees to the economic and industrial sectors of our country, as well as to promote quality, internationalisation and favour the transition of our industrial sector towards a more sustainable and robust economy.
The general director of UNE, Javier García, pointed out that "metrology, accreditation and standardisation are working together and with determination to provide an effective response to the major challenges currently facing Spanish society and industry in areas such as exports, product safety, innovation, digitalisation and sustainability. In this regard, UNE is developing technical standards to successfully overcome these challenges." Promoting Spanish quality infrastructure is one of the priorities of the UNE 2025 Strategy.
For his part, the director of CEM, José Ángel Robles, emphasised that metrology is making a great technological leap forward to respond to the needs of 21st century industry and in this line, CEM has more than twenty R&D projects open every year that allow it to provide specialised, high-value support to the quality infrastructure.
Likewise, the director general of ENAC, Beatriz Rivera, highlighted the close collaboration between UNE, CEM and ENAC, pillars of quality Spanish infrastructure, as well as the role of ENAC during these more than 30 years. In this sense, she stressed that "accreditation is an essential tool at the service of the market and society, providing confidence in evaluation and control activities that affect critical aspects of today's society, from food safety, environmental protection, diagnostic quality or cybersecurity. The combined action of standardised technical requirements, rigorous measurements and assessors who have demonstrated their competence help to ensure the reliability of products and services, to develop safe markets and to strengthen consumer protection".
