France introduces a confirmation visit in accreditation oversight
From 1 January 2026 the accreditation body may run an extra assessment when there is doubt whether an audit done by an accredited body reflects reality.
- A confirmation visit checks whether the audit report is consistent with the actual situation at the audited organisation — a supervision tool, not another scheduled assessment.
- It sits in the accreditation rules, so it applies to certification bodies, but the direction is clear for laboratories too: evidence that the assessment really happened matters more.
- For the testing market it means less room for certificates issued without work behind them.