EuropeActive has successfully launched in cooperation with the Netherlands National Standards Organisation (NEN) a new club certification scheme known as FITcert.eu. This 5-stage scheme is the culmination of many technical experts working under the European Standards Organisation CEN direction to develop standards for clubs covering operations, management, customer service, supervision and fitness trainer qualifications.
Known as EN17229 the European standards are now being transformed into a scheme of certification that will be overseen by the Netherlands National Standards Organisation (NEN) and independent certification bodies. It is a 5-stage scheme where the first 2 stages are operated by EuropeActive before qualifying clubs can proceed into the conformity assessment and certification stages.
As a start 500 clubs will go through a test and trial phase to ensure the approach and systems are relevant and helpful in supporting operators to go through the scheme. More than 300 clubs have already registered for the trial phase to be assessed against the criteria of the standards to show that they conform to good practice for their operations and management. Clubs who are interested in the trial phase can register their interest at www.fitcert.eu
Convenor of the CEN Working Group and EuropeActive Director of Programmes Cliff Collins commented: "The new FITcert.eu scheme, one of the most important decisions ever taken by the European fitness sector, will help the industry to better define itself and to build confidence with our millions of users, governments, and health professionals. The standards are based on best practice and we intend to make sure that clubs who meet our assessment criteria can promote themselves through a charter mark of excellence, including on a directory of clubs".