ISO/IEC 17024 requirements explained: video brief

Accreditation for the body, certification for the people it examines. An accreditation body assesses your body against ISO/IEC 17024, witnesses an examination and, if satisfied, accredits the schemes on your scope. A "17024 certificate" from a management system certification body is not accreditation.

The standard defines it as the set of rules and procedures specifying the competence criteria and other requirements for a category of skills or occupations, and the method for certifying people against them. The scheme owner can be the certification body itself, a governmental authority or another organisation. If you operate someone else's scheme, you still have to show that it meets the standard's scheme requirements.

Yes, if the structure protects impartiality. Clause 5 covers the body's structure in relation to education or training and clause 4 the management of impartiality: in practice, those who teach are separated from those who examine and decide. A recognised course can still be a scheme prerequisite, provided it does not lower the assessment and certification requirements.

Beyond the foreword's AI requirements in 6.5, revised definitions and CASCO alignment, Global ACI's summary lists a definition of invigilation, translation accuracy and consistency, prerequisites to application and to certification, changes to equity in 9.3.1, no self-declaration for recertification, a reinstatement decision, risks and opportunities instead of preventive action, and internal audits and management reviews each year. The transition runs on a declaration to your accreditation body, due by 31 March 2028 at the latest, and a document review, with no head office or witnessed assessment required, although the accreditation body may still witness AI invigilation; accreditations to the 2012 edition lapse after 31 March 2029. Certified persons move across on a timetable you set from their certificates' validity, which can be the normal recertification cycle.

Yes, within the requirements. The 2026 definition of invigilation covers invigilators physically or remotely present in real time and, for practical examinations, recordings reviewed later; a note allows invigilation by artificial intelligence provided it meets the standard's requirements. Clause 6.5 adds requirements for AI in the certification process, which ANAB summarises as transparency, human oversight, validation and disclosure.