ISO/IEC 17065 requirements explained: video brief

Five clauses and two annexes

ISO/IEC 17065:2012 has five requirement clauses, 4 to 8, and two informative annexes: Annex A, the principles for product certification bodies and their certification activities, and Annex B, on applying the standard to processes and services. Clauses 4 to 7 concern the body and its certification work; clause 8 is the management system that keeps it consistent. This short film walks through them.

Clause 4 covers general requirements: settling the legal and contractual matters, managing impartiality, providing for liability and financing, certifying on non-discriminatory conditions, keeping client information confidential and making the required information publicly available. In practice that means a legal entity with a certification agreement signed by every client and rules for the use of certificates and marks, and an impartiality analysis covering owners, relationships and other activities. Clause 5 sets the structural requirements, including the mechanism for safeguarding impartiality.

Resources, process and management system

Clause 6 covers resources: competent certification personnel, the resources for evaluation and the control of outsourced evaluation activities. Clause 7 covers the process: application and its review, evaluation, review, the certification decision, certification documentation, the directory of certified products, surveillance, changes affecting certification, termination, reduction, suspension or withdrawal, records, and complaints and appeals. Clause 8 sets the management system that keeps the work consistent.

The standard applies to third-party certification bodies of any size, testing or inspection organisations adding certification, and scheme owners building a programme. ISO/IEC 17065:2012, the first edition, was confirmed by ISO in 2024, and a second edition is at final draft stage with no transition period set yet. Accreditation is assessed and granted by an accreditation body for a defined scope, with certification work witnessed, then maintained through surveillance and reassessment.

ISO/IEC 17065 is for bodies certifying products, processes and services against a scheme, as distinct from ISO/IEC 17021-1 for management system certification and ISO/IEC 17024 for certification of persons. A scheme owner can have approved certification bodies operate its scheme under accreditation instead of becoming a certification body itself.