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Conformity assessment of standards

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The case of methodological standards

R. Depoutot (Insee)

Budapest,

2-3 May 2011

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Conformity assessment of standards

• Standards define precise agreements consisting in rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results.

• There is a general agreement that the standards:

– Help users of the products or services in providing them with the information that these products/ services are developed - produced according to a standard that guarantees a certain level of quality

– Require some control that there are properly implemented by producers who claim to do so

• CEN or ISO use similar procedures for conformity assessment

• All mandatory EU standards follow the same pattern for conformity assessment, with various degrees in the depth of the assessment (Council decision 93/465/EEC)

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Assessment defined by decision 93/465

• Mainly for products

• Various types:– “Internal production control” (option: with tests)

– “conformity to type” (option: with several random tests)

– “production quality assurance” (conformity to type + Quality assurance)

– “product quality assurance” (production QA + standard test(s) for each product)

– “product verification” (conformity to type+ independant test of products)

– “unit verification” (each product is tested by independent body)

– “full quality assurance” (audited quality system for design, production, final inspection and testing) - option: “design examination”

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decision 93/465: “design examination”

• Option of “full quality assurance”:– examination of the design with a single notified body.

– the application must enable the design, manufacture and operation of the product to be understood, and shall enable conformity with the requirements of the directive to be assessed.

– It must include:

• […] the necessary supporting evidence for their adequacy […]. This supporting evidence must include the results of tests carried out by the appropriate laboratory of the manufacturer or on his behalf.

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Conformity assessment of methodological standards: problem statement

• Eurostat assesses the conformity of some national processes to “methodological standards”:– Code of practice– Gross National Income– Public deficit and debt (Excessive Deficit Procedure)

• Depth of the assessment varies (depends from importance)

• What could be produced in conformity to methodological standards?– Statistical specifications (i.e. an intermediate product + a single unit - no

“production chain”)

• If the ESS production process were integrated, the specifications could be used to:– be implemented independently by each (voluntary?) NSI,

– or be implemented in an IT package made available to each NSI…

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Conformity assessment of methodological standards: draft proposals

• Two issues:– How to assess the produced specifications?

– By whom?

• How to?– Transpose the methods of decision 93/465

– «internal design control » is possible (self declaration), but …

– «design conformity to type»: random selection of extracts from the whole specification + check for conformity of this sample (in cooperation with authors)

– is quality assurance in design possible? If so, «design quality assurance» could be considered: QA + design conformity to type

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Conformity assessment of methodological standards: draft proposals

• By whom?– Transpose the methods of decision 93/465:

• «Independent » national bodies • Surveillance, sometimes unexpected visits

– Issues in statistical design:

• Eurostat not bound to any NSI, much interest in good results

• But… not a natural candidate (specifying not its usual activity)

• Cost for community might be higher

• Assessment could be conducted by one NSI with financial incentives