Certification, registration and accreditation
Both the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families contain a single "certification" standard. "Certification", "registration" and "accreditation" are three words that will certainly crop up on your ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 journey. Just what exactly do they mean? Let's first take the first two.
According to the standardized definitions*, they are not quite the same thing. In the context of ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001:2004, "certification" refers to the issuing of written assurance (the certificate) by an independent, external body that has audited an organization's management system and verified that it conforms to the requirements specified in the standard.
"Registration" means that the auditing body then records the certification in its client register.
The organization's management system has therefore been both certified and registered. For practical purposes, in the ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 contexts, the difference between the two terms is not significant and both are acceptable for general use.
"Certification" seems to be the term most widely used worldwide, although registration (from which "registrar" as an alternative to registration/certification body) is often preferred in North America, and the two are also used interchangeably.
On the contrary, using "accreditation" as an interchangeable alternative for certification or registration is a mistake, because it means something different. In the ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001:2004 context, accreditation refers to the formal recognition by a specialized body - an accreditation body - that a certification body is competent to carry out ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001:2004 certification in specified business sectors. In simple terms, accreditation is like certification of the certification body. Certificates issued by accredited certification bodies - and known as "accredited certificates" - may be perceived on the market as having increased credibility.
Therefore, it is okay to state that your organization has been "certified" or "registered" (if, indeed, it has!), but inaccurate to state that it has been "accredited" (unless your organization is a certification/registration body).
by Sidney Vianna @ Elsmar.com
Both the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families contain a single "certification" standard. "Certification", "registration" and "accreditation" are three words that will certainly crop up on your ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 journey. Just what exactly do they mean? Let's first take the first two.
According to the standardized definitions*, they are not quite the same thing. In the context of ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001:2004, "certification" refers to the issuing of written assurance (the certificate) by an independent, external body that has audited an organization's management system and verified that it conforms to the requirements specified in the standard.
"Registration" means that the auditing body then records the certification in its client register.
The organization's management system has therefore been both certified and registered. For practical purposes, in the ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 contexts, the difference between the two terms is not significant and both are acceptable for general use.
"Certification" seems to be the term most widely used worldwide, although registration (from which "registrar" as an alternative to registration/certification body) is often preferred in North America, and the two are also used interchangeably.
On the contrary, using "accreditation" as an interchangeable alternative for certification or registration is a mistake, because it means something different. In the ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001:2004 context, accreditation refers to the formal recognition by a specialized body - an accreditation body - that a certification body is competent to carry out ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001:2004 certification in specified business sectors. In simple terms, accreditation is like certification of the certification body. Certificates issued by accredited certification bodies - and known as "accredited certificates" - may be perceived on the market as having increased credibility.
Therefore, it is okay to state that your organization has been "certified" or "registered" (if, indeed, it has!), but inaccurate to state that it has been "accredited" (unless your organization is a certification/registration body).
by Sidney Vianna @ Elsmar.com
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment