Anil Jauhri, Ex-CEO, National Accreditation
Board for Certification Bodies, writes and tells us the ways to check the
authenticity of the ISO Certifications.
The historic event of 1987 was the
initialization of the ISO 9001 standard brought a revolution in the system of
the organizations and many of the ISO Certification was also introduced as ISO
14001, 27001, and many more that changed the thinking of the organization. The
ISO guidelines were followed by the organization to make the products good that
could satisfy the customers and had been followed for the welfare of the common
people.
The ISO (International Organization for
Standardization) is a global organization that works to improve the
organization's management system. The ISO 9001 certification comes in 1987, It
is a memorable event for the ISO, This ISO 9001 Certification comes with lots
of advantages and some useful guidelines for the companies. It encouraged the same management systems
appearance to the environment (ISO 14001), information security (ISO 27001),
food safety (ISO 22000), and this tribe continues to grow into several other
fields.
These accreditation groups perform to working
as per relevant global standard, ISO 17011, and authorize certification groups
as per global standards suitable to them, e.g. ISO 17021 group for
administration systems certification. These accreditation groups are evaluated
by the regional groups, Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation in the case of
India, who in turn are estimated by IAF and once an authorized body describes
it reaches ISO 17011, it becomes a signatory to IAF’s common identification
arrangement which means it is now globally comparable.
The evaluation of specific accreditation
bodies by a localized body as well as IAF should be done and evaluation of
regional groups supports a 4-year cycle.
One can define the certification bodies (and
accreditation bodies) as unauthentic bodies and certificates that are
circulated by them as inauthentic.
Accordingly, it is essential for all the stakeholders,
especially those who rely on ISO certificates, to be knowledgeable of the
hazards of unauthentic certificates in the market and confirm that they are
getting a reliable, authoritative certificate following the IAF system except
there is an alternative system of authenticating certificates possible.
There are many startups and organizations that
had started their organization as an ISO Certification body and any
organization can become a certification body and can certify the other
organization with the ISO Certificates. If these certifying organizations are
providing ISO certificates, then it is legal according to the rules.
There may be some ISO Certifying bodies that
are providing the ISO Certification without taking an audit and inspection in
the organization and it is illegal and should be stopped by the organization
itself. So the main topic here is to check the authenticity of the ISO
Certificate. The authentic certificates are those that have the following
points that are mentioned below:-
An
authentic certificate should include the following points:
- It should have a unique identification
number specific to that certificate only. It is provided by the ISO
certification bodies.
- It also contains the certification body
(CB) address it important for the authentic certificate.
- The logo of the certification body is the
most important thing to identify the original certificate.
- The symbol of the approval should be on the
certificate with the specific name of the certification body. (in maximum countries, in the nonexistence of
any law demanding certification bodies to register, accreditation is the only
way of identifying a competent, authentic certification body)
- IAF Mark This IFA mark shows the
certificate is covered under the Multilateral Mutual Recognition Arrangement
(MLA) of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and therefore is globally
commensurate and acceptable in the market.
- The Name of the organization and address
should be written in the proper manner.
- The detailed information about the
certification and the implementation scope representing its actions under
certification. For example production, and sale of dairy products.
- It holds all standards and all rules and
regulations against which certification is approved. like the ISO 9001, or FSSC
22000.
The authentic certification must contain the
all following properties mentioned in the list. It is the mark of the trustable
certificate issued by the trustable organization. If the certificate is
circulated under a system like IATF 16949 or AS 9100, it is desirable to
confirm the certificate through the scheme partners.
