An accreditation is not sufficient for designation as technical service by the KBA.

An accreditation can be taken into consideration by the KBA in a designation procedure when

• The accreditation body is located in the European Union
• The accreditation is issued according to Regulation (EC) 765/2008
• At least one of the standards relevant for the designation is accredited.

On basis of such an accreditation, the KBA checks the

• Fulfilment of the approval relevant requirements
• Standards and test procedures which are not included in the accreditation.

If requested, after appropriate checking of the delta, the designation can cover other amendments of relevant regulatory acts.

The designation of other EU member state may be taken into consideration in the designation procedure analogous to an accreditation.

A laboratory of a manufacturer can only be designated as technical service if the relevant regulatory act explicitly allows this. Otherwise, the manufacturer’s laboratory should consider the option that a designated by the KBA technical service supervises the tests in the manufacturer’s laboratory and creates the test report.

Laboratories and certification bodies must have its commercial registration in the European Union. Subsidiaries in other countries can be included in the designation if certain preconditions are fulfilled.

Detailed information can be found in this section. Designation rules and application forms can be found on the page of Designation of Technical services. You are also welcome to contact the staff of the responsible department ( benennungsstelle@kba.de , telephone: +49 461 316 260).

The KBA support technical services A/B/D or technical services C by means of briefings prior to the application. If these discussions take place at the KBA premises, no fees will be charged. It is also possible to arrange a pre-assessment.

Training is provided to transfer basic knowledge of the designation process and the qualification of authorized signatories for test reports and auditors. Interested parties please inform about their needs to benennungsstelle@kba.de .

By a designation, the approval authority confirms that the technical service complies with the standard to be applied in accordance with the relevant regulations (EN ISO/IEC 17020/17021-1/17025) and with the specific requirements of the KBA Type Approval procedure, and is competent to carry out the tests specified in the scope of the designation.

The KBA designation procedure is based on the provisions of the EC Vehicle Approval Ordinance and the corresponding provisions of the UN-ECE. The procedure is also applied to the national legal framework. The term ‘designation’ is synonymous with the term ‘recognition’ as used in the EC Vehicle Approval Ordinance.

In its Type Approval procedure, the KBA only takes into account test reports from bodies designated by the KBA as a technical service. Orders to verify that a product is manufactured in conformity with the approval granted will also be awarded only to such laboratories.

If a quality management system certification body wishes to operate in the Type Approval process, it must also be designated by the KBA as a technical service.

The following conditions must be met in order for the certification body’s assessment of the QM system to be accepted in the KBA Type Approval process:

• The relevant document explicitly identifies the scope for which the approval-relevant requirements are met.
• A Report on CoP has been submitted.