Analysis of accredited conformity assessment bodies in European countries with respect to socio-economic indicators: A multivariate approach

Accreditation represents one of the four fundamental elements of quality infrastructure. The bodies subject to the accreditation process include testing laboratories, calibration laboratories, medical laboratories, inspection bodies, and certification bodies for products, management systems, and persons. The main objective of this paper is to examine the correlation between socio-economic parameters and the number of accredited conformity assessment bodies in more than 30 European countries. To investigate the correlation, multivariate statistical methods were applied: Pearson correlation analysis, principal component analysis, and cluster analysis. The results indicated that the strongest correlation exists between gross domestic product and population size on the one hand, and the number of accredited testing and calibration laboratories as well as product certification bodies on the other. Principal component analysis yielded two main components, while cluster analysis grouped conformity assessment bodies into three clusters and European countries into five clusters. This study demonstrated that there are significant similarities in the accreditation system across Europe.