The purpose of accreditation is not only to provide the status and accreditation rank of study programs, but mainly to improve awareness, motivation, and concrete steps that ultimately lead to a culture of continuous quality improvement.

The basic requirement is that the accreditation system must be trusted and recognised by all: the medical schools, students, the profession, the health care system, and the public. Trust must be based on the academic competence, efficiency, and fairness of the system. These characteristics of the system must be known by the users and consequently, the system must possess a high degree of transparency.

The accreditation system must operate within a legal framework. That secure the autonomy of the accreditation system and ensure the independence of its quality assessment from the government, the medical schools, and the profession.

The legal framework must authorise the accrediting body to set standards, conduct periodic evaluations and confer, deny, and withdraw accreditation of medical schools and their program in medical education. The framework needs to be a foundation to determine the size and composition of the accreditation committee or council and must allow the committee or council to decide on the by-laws specifying the procedure for accreditation, including the appointment of a review or site-visit teams. Furthermore, the legal framework should include rules regarding the declaration of conflict of interest and the handling of complaints.