TY - JOUR A1 - Koch, Claudia A1 - Asna Ashari, Parsa A1 - Mirtsch, Mona A1 - Blind, K. A1 - Castka, P. T1 - Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on accredited conformity assessment bodies: insights from a multinational study JF - Accreditation and Quality Assurance N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic posed new and manifold challenges to organizations and their operations worldwide. Conformity assessment bodies (CABs), such as testing or medical laboratories, certification, and inspection bodies, were also affected by the associated disruptions. Their role in this crisis is highly relevant, as CABs are essential pillars of the quality infrastructure: their activities ensure that products and services meet requirements as defined in standards and regulations, thereby contributing to their safety and reliability. The question arises of how CABs and their operations were affected by the pandemic and how they responded. To this end, we present the results of an international survey of 986 CABs of all types in Germany, the UK, Italy, and New Zealand. Overall, CABs reported, on average, a reduction in demand for their services during the pandemic, facing restrictions in all countries. In addition, the pandemic had an overall negative impact on the CABs’ investment and innovation activities. However, investments in digital infrastructure were increased as a countermeasure, with CABs reporting a higher need for digitalization. The paper highlights and discusses results from in-depth analyses relevant to policymakers and industry alike. KW - Quality Infrastructure KW - Digitalization KW - Testing laboratories KW - Conformity assessment KW - Certification KW - Conformity assessment body KW - Corona KW - Covid-19 KW - Resilience PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-556396 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-022-01514-x SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-55639 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -