Kiwa Stories - Articles

Annex XVI of EU MDR 2017/745 covers specific product groups that do not have a medical intended purpose, yet are used on the human body and inherently carry certain risks. Although these products are not intended for diagnosis or treatment, they are included within the MDR framework due to their potential impact on human health and safety.

From 5 to 8 May 2026, Lisbon will host a new edition of RAPS Europe, one of the leading European events dedicated to Regulatory Affairs in the life sciences and medical devices sector.

On 16 March 2026, the European Commission hosted the High-Level Conference on Medical Devices: Innovation and Patient Safety in Brussels, an event that brought together key institutional representatives, regulatory authorities, industry experts, and stakeholders from across Europe.

We are proud to announce that Kiwa Nederland has extended their CBTL accreditation with electrical safety testing of medical devices. This milestone allows us to support medical device manufacturers even more effectively in demonstrating compliance with international standards, not only for EMC, but now also for electrical safety. 

This year's theme, "Let's ensure a healthy psychosocial working environment," centers on the health and wellbeing of workers, and the way everyday working conditions are designed, managed, and organized. In this article, our Global Head of Health & Safety, Ellen de Geest, shares how at Kiwa safety starts within our own walls, and how our services help strengthen safety standards across the world.

Inspecting the interior of concrete dams is often hindered by poor lighting and restricted access, making it difficult to get a comprehensive overview of the structural condition. By building an ultra-high-resolution 3D model of the galleries at the Storfinnforsen dam, we have demonstrated how visual inspections can be entirely transitioned to a digital desktop environment. The result is an impressive level of detail, allowing for the detection and exact geospatial anchoring of all defects, such as cracks as fine as 0.2 millimeters.

Since the introduction of MDR (EU) 2017/745, many manufacturers describe the regulation as demanding and time-intensive. And while MDR is thorough by design, many of the hurdles companies face stem from fragmented processes rather than the regulation itself.

Step inside a day in the life of Stephen Burt, Carbon and Sustainability Services Director at NQA, a Kiwa company. From early-morning travel on the Caledonian Sleeper to on-site audits of major infrastructure projects, discover how carbon verification, stakeholder collaboration, and whole life carbon assessments come together in practice. This behind-the-scenes look highlights the real-world work driving more sustainable outcomes across complex projects.

"Today reminds us that inequalities in access to safe water affect people in different ways, and that water equity extends beyond any single dimension", say Business Unit Managers Jessica Weigert and Annemieke van der Velden.  "For us, leading Kiwa’s Water Business in Germany and the Netherlands, diversity is not an abstract value but a lived reality: our teams bring together people from different cultures, backgrounds and personal experiences, including colleagues who know from their own lives what it means not to have reliable access to water."

Kiwa will attend the GFSI Conference 2026, taking place from 24 to 26 March 2026 in Vancouver, Canada. The conference brings together food industry leaders, retailers, manufacturers, certification bodies and regulators from around the world to collaborate on strengthening food safety and trust across the global supply chain.

In the last year, structured dialogue has become an essential tool in collaboration between manufacturers and Notified Bodies under the MDR. New requirements, stricter deadlines enforced a need for more and structural communication.

Many organizations choose to perform their own supplier audits — and they do so with impressive dedication, deep product knowledge, and a genuine commitment to quality. Yet within that approach lies an interesting opportunity. Not to replace what already works, but to strengthen it.

Kiwa is expanding its fire safety and security services! In Zaltbommel (the Netherlands) the construction of a brand-new test hall is in development, specifically for testing and certifying sprinklers according to EN 12259-1. With this expansion, we will soon be able to test sprinklers so that they can be provided with a CE-marking.

Kiwa has successfully audited all 458 PureGym sites across the UK and 49 in Switzerland to FITcert®, a recognised milestone that demonstrates a fitness club has been independently assessed against the European standard EN 17229 for fitness centre facilities and operations.

In a world where artificial intelligence is evolving at lightning speed, ML6, a Belgian AI consulting and services company, stands out as a pioneer. Patrick Coomans, Global Product Owner of Cyber Security at Vinçotte (a Kiwa company) sat down with ML6 experts Rob Vandenberghe and Louis Vanderdonckt to discuss how ML6 is evolving, the role it plays in the AI landscape, and why trust is an absolute prerequisite for long-term value creation.

Kiwa PI Berlin advises Sonnedix on quality control through an agreement that includes factory inspection and auditing services, production supervision, ESG analysis and traceability, in-factory testing and in-house laboratory testing.