Disposable Medical Masks in Europe follow an accreditation process of acknowledgement of competence of a product in the European conformity assessment system.
The European conformity assessment system consists of conformity assessment bodies such as laboratories, inspection authorities or certification bodies.
The duty of these bodies is to provide attestation to the product for its compliance.
Conformity Assessment Body (CAB)
CAB, short for Conformity Assessment Body, is a legal entity that conducts a conformity assessment of goods/services to check the compliance of the product.
The conformity assessment is a broad term, that includes everything from inspection to laboratory testing to product examination and certification.
The conformity assessment is a set of methods to demonstrate to the market and the consumers that a product meets the requirements that are set by legal authorities.
The methods of the conformity assessment include inspection, measurement, examination, conformity tests and a final report.
Supervisory Body (SB)
This assessment is followed by documentation which is submitted in the form of report to the Supervisory Body (SB).
The SB then decides if the product is entitled to receive certification or not.
Report of a Face Mask
The report contains every detail from composition of the product to the final product.
The purpose of the report is to tell the potential users whether the product meets the desired standard or not.
The benefits of conformity assessment is to provide assurance to the local bodies about the integrity of the product.
It gives a measure of protection to the manufacturer that the product meets a certain standard as well as to the consumers that they can have their faith in that product as assessment by CAB implies accreditation by an independent source.
Accreditation Protect the Wearer of Face Mask
As they say, for every positive there is a negative.
Accreditation, with all its benefits, does also come with a risk which includes fraudulent certification and or corruption at the level of trading.
Some companies get their products accredited but introduce into the market a different or fake product.
Therefore, it is important to make sure that there is a market surveillance going on that compares the credibility of the market product with the original accredited prototype.
Conclusion
In conclusion, accreditation is basically the evidence of the authenticity of the product.
It is extremely necessary for product certification and provides an additional level of confidence to the consumers.
All its steps from inspection to accreditation add to the quality of the product and are crucial to provide its buyers a sense of product originality as they are much further away from the manufacturers.