Quality News

During the process of applying for a certificate from International Standards Organization, ISO, “certification“ and “accreditation“ are two most heard-about and yet confusing words. How do we choose the right word for the right content? First, we have to start from the whole certificate-applying procedure and the role it plays.

It’s using Conformity Assessment Procedures to determine, directly or indirectly, whether products are in compliance with technical rules or standardized procedures in order to prove that products, procedures, systems, individuals or organizations conform to specific requirements.

There are three levels consisting of the certificate system of International Standards Organization: the organizations, the certification bodies and the accreditation bodies. The certification bodies are the judges, responsible for judging and issuing certificates to applying organizations; the accreditation bodies are the supervisors, responsible for supervising and auditing the certification bodies, ensuring certificates issued by them are accepted by the general public. Throughout the process, the applying organizations apply for certification from the certification bodies of International Standards Organization in order to obtain certificates. The certification bodies, in order to demonstrate their justness, will seek recognition from the accreditation bodies.

Hence, “certification“ means an just and independent third party “certification body“ which issues papers to guarantee personnel, products, procedures or services conform to the required procedures or activities. Certification bodies include Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, M.O.E.A. (BSMI), Bell Laboratory (BQR), Det Norsk Veritas ( DNV), British Standards Institution (BSI), Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI), Societe Generale de Surveillance ( SGS)….All these certification bodies must be recognized by accreditation bodies first.

Accreditation means the official written recognition issued by the competent authorities to “certification bodies“ or “training organizations“ capable of executing required work procedures or activities. Accreditation bodies include Taiwan Accreditation Foundation ( TAF), China National Accrediation Board(CNAB), Registrar Accreditation Board ( RAB), Raad Voor Accreditatie (RVA), Deutschen Akkreditierungs Rat (DAR), Standard Council of Canada (SCC) , Korea Accreditation Board( KAB), Japanese Accreditation Board(JAB).

Therefore, enterprises shouldn’t be confusing “certification“ with “accreditation“ in their promotional materials or advertisement. Take ISO Quality and Food Safety Management System as an example, “ ISO 9001 & 22000” fall into the category of “ management system certification”, meaning organizations with their own procedures and management rules to conduct food certification. Organizations of issuing certificates such as TAF or any competent authorities mentioned above must, first, accredit the qualifications of the certification bodies, then, the accredited certification bodies can conduct the certification procedures of the external audit requested by the applying enterprises. The accredited certification bodies include previously mentioned SGS and BSMI.

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