The standard ISO/IEC 17065, “Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services,” and its most recent revision was published in September 2013. ISO/IEC 17065 Accreditation demonstrates to the marketplace and to regulators that the agencies’ have met the requirements for operating certification schemes in a competent, consistent and impartial manner. The purpose of ISO/IEC 17065 is for conformity assessment or the certification of products, processes and/or services.
Who is this standard for?
- Clients of the certification bodies
- Customers of organizations whose products, processes or services are certified
- Governmental authorities
- Non-governmental organizations, consumers and members of the public.
Why should you use this standard?
Certification of products, processes or services is a means of providing assurance that they comply with specified requirements in standards and other normative documents. The overall aim of certification is to give confidence to all interested parties that the product will fulfil specified requirements. The value of certification therefore is the degree of confidence and trust that is established by a third party – this acts as a competent demonstration of fulfilment.
BS 17065:2012 provides insight into legal and contractual matters, management of impartiality, liability, financing and non-discriminatory conditions. The standard can be used as a criteria document for accreditation or peer assessment or designation by governmental authorities, scheme owners and others.
While this standard is concerned with third parties providing product, process or service certification, many of its provisions may also be useful in first- and second-party product conformity assessment procedures.
Benefits of ISO/IEC 17065
- Gaining customers’ trust
- Competitiveness in national and international markets
- Performance of production or service according to standards
- Continuous development and minimization of errors
- Reduced Operating Costs