The various bodies involved in the certification process are as follows:
- International Accreditation Forum (IAF). The Forum promotes cooperation between accreditation bodies operating in the area of certification. It collaborates with ISO and WTO to facilitate the implementation of Articles 5 and 6 of the TBT Agreement.
- National accreditation bodies for product and system certification. These evaluate the competence of various types of certification bodies. Examples are the following:
- China National Accreditation Committee for quality system registration bodies (CNACR);
- Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Normalizaçao e Qualidade Industrial (Inmetro), Brazil;
- National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), India;
- Registrar Accreditation Board (RAB), United States;
- Raad voor Accreditatie (RvA), Netherlands; and
- United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
- Certification bodies. These include bodies with international operations (such as the British Standards Institution, Det Norske Veritas, Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance, KPMG, TÜV CERT) and national standards bodies.
- Organizations seeking product or system certification. When certified, these are authorized to use the product certification mark or logo of the certification body in the prescribed manner.
Selection criteria
A company or organization preparing for certification should consider the following criteria for choosing a certification body:
- The reputation, market image and experience of the certification body.
- Whether the certification body is accredited by a national accreditation body. (Accreditation bodies submit accredited certification bodies to periodic surveillance audits. It is also advisable that the accreditation body be a member of IAF.)
- Whether the certification body has been accredited to provide certification services in your area of business (certification bodies are accredited for specific scopes of activities).
Proximity of the certification body (long distances can have significant cost implications for interaction with the certification body, as well as for the travel expenses of auditors during the pre-certification and post-certification audits).
- The period of validity of certification, audit charges, certification fees and currency of payment (these may vary between certification bodies).
- If certification is being obtained at the insistence of major overseas buyers, their views on the choice of certification body or accreditation body should be sought and considered.