The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have agreed a Regulation which will, for the first time, provide a legal framework for the provision of accreditation services across Europe. The Regulation, expected to be formally adopted in May this year, will apply from January 2010 and will require all EU Member States to appoint a single national accreditation body. To improve the consistency of accreditation services across Europe, the Regulation will set common requirements for national accreditation bodies, to be monitored by Member State governments. National accreditation bodies will also be required to be members of the peer evaluation programme operated by the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) as the preferred means of demonstrating compliance with the requirements.