Awareness course to ISO/IEC 17065 standard

The overall aim of certifying products, processes or services is to give confidence to all interested parties that a product, process or service fulfills specified requirements. The value of certification is the degree of confidence and trust that is established by an impartial and competent demonstration of fulfillment of specified requirements by a third party.

Certification of products, processes or services is a means of providing assurance that they comply with specified requirements in standards and other normative documents. Some product, process or service certification schemes may include initial testing or inspection and assessment of its suppliers’ quality management systems, followed by surveillance that takes into account the quality management system and the testing or inspection of samples from the production and the open market. Other schemes rely on initial testing and surveillance testing, while still others comprise type testing only.

This International Standard specifies requirements, the observance of which is intended to ensure that certification bodies operate certification schemes in a competent, consistent and impartial manner, thereby facilitating the recognition of such bodies and the acceptance of certified products, processes and services on a national and international basis and so furthering international trade. This International Standard can be used as a criteria document for accreditation or peer assessment or designation by governmental authorities, scheme owners and others.

Interested parties in certification

• The clients of the certification bodies
• The customers of the organizations whose products, processes or services are certified
• Governmental authorities
• Non-governmental organizations
• Consumers and other members of the public

Standards covered

• ISO/IEC 17065:2012