Conformity Assessment is the act of ensuring that goods, products or services are able to meet predefined standards of quality or effectiveness. This ensures that consumers are increasingly aware of what they are buying, and can have confidence in the quality that is implied through that product.

Normally, the procedures related to conformity assessment are related to three main areas, and may spread onto more related areas depending on the sort of product that is being examined.

The first of these areas is product/service testing to ensure that it can meet or exceed standardized testing procedures designed to put the product through the rigors it would meet in every day usage, but in a controlled laboratory environment.

The second area is the implementation of a management system to ensure that any relevant products are continually developed in a way that is compliant with standards of both quality and safety. Even the most expertly designed products can ultimately fail in the marketplace if the facilities manufacturing them are not required to demonstrate their commitment to certain standards that have been set forth. Officials from the European Organisation for Conformity Assessment must also ensure clear and efficient distribution channels for such products, so that they can reach consumers with a limited amount of hassle.

Finally, an inspection process must occur to investigate whether such products in question have followed regulated procedures during their design and manufacturing process. This is especially important for product types such as fire extinguishers, baby products or electrical appliances, since they could cause serious damages, personal injury or even death in the event that they were built or conceived in a faulty manner.

The European Organisation for Conformity Assessment strives to present easily understood standards that can be followed by manufacturers and distributors, and ultimately protect the consumer.