ISO/IEC 17024 · Bodies certifying persons
ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation consulting for certifications of competence that employers and regulators accept.
Get your certification body accredited to ISO/IEC 17024:2026 by the accreditation body, for the schemes you operate, on a timeline you can plan around. Sterling's expert and experienced consultants work with your team on impartiality, schemes, valid and fair examinations and the management system, and stay with you through the witnessed assessment and after it, in 60+ countries. We ensure successful accreditation for our clients.
- An all-inclusive proposal for a defined scope: consulting, Effivity software, Sterling Academy access and internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, in one proposal
- A team of expert and experienced conformity assessment consultants, advising on management systems across sectors and countries since 2003
- The Sterling Promise: 100% on-time completion, 100% success, 8,100+ client engagements. Sterling does not accredit; the accreditation body assesses and decides
8,100+ client engagements in 60+ countries.
ISO/IEC 17024 client experience
What it is
What is ISO/IEC 17024 and what is it used for?
ISO/IEC 17024 is the international standard for bodies that certify persons. It specifies principles and requirements for a body operating certification of persons, including the development and maintenance of the scheme a person is certified against. A certificate is only as trustworthy as the process behind it, so the body has to show that each scheme describes real work, examinations measure competence fairly, decisions are impartial and certified persons keep meeting the requirements, through surveillance where the scheme calls for it and recertification.
A certification body is not certified to ISO/IEC 17024; it is accredited. An accreditation body working to ISO/IEC 17011 reviews the documentation, assesses the management system at the body's offices, witnesses an examination and, if satisfied, grants accreditation for the schemes listed on a public scope. Employers, regulators and scheme owners use that scope to decide which certificates to rely on.
Current edition. ISO/IEC 17024:2026, the third edition, was published on 31 March 2026 and replaces ISO/IEC 17024:2012, now withdrawn; ISO also lists the vocabulary specification ISO/IEC TS 17027:2014 as replaced by it. Its foreword names three main changes: revised terms and definitions, new requirements for the use of artificial intelligence in 6.5, and alignment with CASCO's common elements. Global ACI (Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated), which began operating on 1 January 2026 and whose MRA replaced the IAF MLA and ILAC MRA, has issued mandatory transition requirements: accreditation bodies ready to assess by 1 October 2027 at the latest, certification bodies' declarations by 31 March 2028, and accreditations to the 2012 edition no longer valid after 31 March 2029. Your accreditation body may set earlier dates; ANAB, for example, asks for self-attestations by 1 October 2027.
Who it is for
Who needs ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation?
The standard applies to any body that certifies persons against a scheme: professional institutes and associations, training and examination bodies, sector skills bodies and operators of schemes a regulator has designated, for roles from management system auditors and welding inspectors to crane operators, lifeguards and health and safety practitioners. The scope should list the certifications your market relies on. Certification bodies come to Sterling from four starting points:
- A regulator or a scheme owner requires accredited certification. In June 2025, for example, Dubai's accreditation centre, EIAC, announced an ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation scheme for bodies certifying occupational health and safety persons in charge and practitioners. Your scope has to match what the regulation or scheme names.
- You train people and want to certify them. Attendance certificates say someone completed a course; certification says an impartial process confirmed their competence. Both can sit in one organisation, provided the training side cannot compromise the impartiality of examination and decision.
- Your certificates need to travel. Employers abroad ask whether a credential is accredited. Certification of persons is a Global ACI MRA scope, and signatories recognise one another's accreditation as equivalent, except where regulation or law provides otherwise.
- You already certify people, and the process would not survive a challenge. One expert's examination never analysed, the trainer deciding, recertification on a signed form, online examinations without a security plan. Or you are accredited to the 2012 edition and the 2029 deadline needs a plan.
Business benefits
How ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation supports your certification body and the people it certifies
Accreditation should make your certificates worth holding and hard to dispute. We start where a certification body is exposed, an appeal against a failed examination, a leaked question bank, an employer asking whether the certificate is accredited, and build the system around those points.
- Certificates that are acceptedAn accredited scope on a public register, recognised through the Global ACI MRA, so employers, regulators and scheme owners can rely on your certificates.
- Examinations you can defendBuilt from a job or practice analysis, with a documented pass mark and regular review of how each performs, so an appeal is answered with evidence, not opinion.
- Impartiality designed inTeaching, examining and deciding separated where they must be, and conflicts of interest declared, so whether trainers pass their own students has a documented answer.
- Secure examinations, in the room and onlineControlled question banks, authorised invigilators, rules for remote invigilation and an incident process, so a leak or cheating attempt is contained, not discovered by the market.
- Fairness you can showArrangements that disadvantage no group, translations checked for accuracy and consistency, and results reviewed for bias, so every candidate has an equal opportunity to succeed.
- A portfolio that can growScheme, examination and competence files built to one pattern, so the next certification or level is a scope extension rather than a new project.
Measure what these should change: appeals upheld, security incidents, questions retired for poor performance, certificates suspended or withdrawn, complaints. A thicker scheme document is not a result.
Requirements
What are the main ISO/IEC 17024 requirements?
ISO/IEC 17024:2026 keeps the 2012 edition's seven requirement clauses, 4 to 10, followed by two informative annexes: Annex A on the principles for certification of persons and a new Annex B on how certification activities, the certification process, assessment, examination and the scheme fit together. Clauses 4 to 7 concern the body, 8 the scheme, 9 the certification process and 10 the management system. The table is a plain-language map; the programme checks every clause, and clauses 8 and 9 for each certification.
| Clause | What it requires of you | What it looks like in practice |
|---|---|---|
| 4 General requirements | Be a legal entity, retain responsibility for every certification decision, manage risks to impartiality on an ongoing basis, and have the finances and liability arrangements the operation needs | Registration documents, a documented decision authority, an impartiality risk analysis with actions and reviews, and evidence of financial stability and insurance |
| 5 Structural requirements | Document the management and organisational structure, and structure any education or training that the body or a related organisation offers so that it cannot compromise the impartiality of certification | An organisation chart showing who develops schemes, examines and decides; where training is offered, a written boundary between trainers and examiners and between course and examination content |
| 6 Resource requirements | Have competent personnel, with specific requirements for examiners and others involved in assessment; control outsourcing; provide suitable resources; and, new in 2026, meet the requirements for using AI in the certification process | Competence records for examiners, invigilators, question writers and decision-makers, signed confidentiality and conflict-of-interest statements, outsourcing agreements, and a register of each use of AI with its validation and human review |
| 7 Records and information requirements | Keep records of applicants, candidates and certified persons, publish the required information, keep certification information confidential, and keep examination material and the process secure | A certification database with retention rules, a way for employers to check that a certificate is current, published scheme and process information, and a security plan for question banks, delivery, invigilation and incidents |
| 8 Certification schemes | Certify against a scheme setting out the scope of certification, the job and its tasks, the competence required, any prerequisites and code of conduct, and the rules for initial certification, surveillance where required, recertification, suspension and withdrawal, grounded in a current job or practice analysis; where another organisation owns the scheme, it must still meet this clause | The scheme document, the job or practice analysis and the experts behind it, a blueprint linking each competence to how it is examined, and records of scheme reviews |
| 9 Certification process requirements | Run the assessment, application and examination processes, decide on certification, suspend, withdraw or reduce scope, recertify, control the use of certificates and marks, and handle appeals and complaints | Prerequisite checks, examinations with marking guides, a documented pass-mark method, invigilation reports, statistical review of results, decisions by authorised decision-makers, recertification evidence, rules for certificates and marks, and appeals and complaints files |
| 10 Management system requirements | Operate a management system that supports clauses 4 to 9: policies and responsibilities, management review and internal audits each year, corrective actions, actions to address risks and opportunities, and controlled documented information | A concise management system in Effivity: policies, an audit programme that reaches examination sessions, a management review that decides, corrective actions closed with evidence, and a risks and opportunities register |
What does useful ISO/IEC 17024 evidence look like?
An impartiality risk analysis with actions, the training boundary in writing, competence records for everyone who writes, delivers, marks or decides, each scheme with its analysis, blueprint and pass-mark method, statistical reviews of examinations, invigilation and incident records, decisions, appeals, complaints, audits and management reviews. We identify what each scheme needs; management system records live in Effivity from the first workshop, so the assessor sees a body that runs.
ISO/IEC 17024 requirements explained, from impartiality to recertificationAccreditation process
How do you get ISO/IEC 17024 accredited?
Build a certification body that meets the standard and can show it, with its certification process running, then apply to an accreditation body, which assesses and decides. Sterling provides consulting and preparation; the decision belongs to the accreditation body, and that independence gives your certificates their value. Procedures vary; this sequence is common.
- 01Define the certifications, the schemes and the accreditation body.Agree the certifications and levels for the application, who owns each scheme and which accreditation body to use, normally the national one, checking that it is a Global ACI MRA signatory for certification of persons.
- 02Gap analysis: review the body and each scheme against clauses 4 to 10.Impartiality, the training boundary, personnel, outsourcing, AI, records and security, the scheme and its analysis, examinations, decisions, recertification, appeals, complaints and the management system; it keeps what works and agrees actions, owners and dates.
- 03Build the scheme, the examination and the evidence.Refresh the job or practice analysis with subject-matter experts, write and review the examination against a blueprint, set the pass mark by a documented method, train examiners and invigilators, secure the question bank and certify candidates so records accumulate.
- 04Audit, review and close every finding.An internal audit that observes an examination session and samples decision files as well as the office, then a management review; findings are raised by us first and closed with evidence before the application goes in.
- 05Complete the accreditation body's assessment.Application and document review (some bodies review the scheme itself first), a pre-assessment where offered, then assessment of the management system at your offices and a witnessed examination; nonconformities are closed by the body's deadline and its decision-maker grants the scope.
- 06Maintain the accreditation.Examination reviews, internal audits and management reviews continue alongside surveillance, normally each year, and reassessment on the accreditation body's cycle; new certifications join as scope extensions.
Settle who will accredit you before you compare prices. Only accreditation bodies operating to ISO/IEC 17011 accredit bodies that certify persons; an "ISO 17024 compliance" certificate from a certification body or consultancy is not accreditation and appears on no accreditation body's register. Before signing, find the accreditation body on the Global ACI list of recognised bodies, with certification of persons in scope. How to choose a credible ISO/IEC 17024 provider · The accreditation buyer's checklist
Cost
How much does ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation cost?
ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation has no list price. One scheme inherited from a regulator needs a different programme from three new levels with new examinations in two languages, and the accreditation body charges for the review, assessor days and witnessing your scope needs. What we promise is a proposal with every component visible and Sterling's fee fixed.
| Cost component | What affects it |
|---|---|
| Consulting and implementation | Current maturity, the schemes and levels in scope, whether examinations exist or must be developed, locations, deliverables and how much of the work your team takes on (Design™ or Drive™) |
| Accreditation body fees | Application, document and scheme review, assessor days at your offices and for witnessed examinations, travel, and annual and surveillance charges |
| Scheme and examination development | Subject-matter experts' time for the job or practice analysis and question writing, psychometric review, pilots, translation and examination delivery platforms |
| Internal resources | Staff time for records and examiner training, management involvement, and any restructuring to separate training from certification |
| Software and learning | Included in a Sterling engagement: Effivity for the management system and Sterling Academy access for your staff, with users, courses and access period set out in the proposal |
| Continued support | Internal audits, surveillance readiness, scheme reviews, scope extensions, refresher learning and future changes under Sustain™ |
What moves the price
- Schemes and levels on the scope: each needs an examination and assessor time
- Whether analyses and examinations exist, or must be developed and validated
- Examination languages, locations and delivery modes, including remote invigilation
- How closely training and certification are linked today
- Any existing ISO 9001 or ISO 21001 system, and the deadline you face
What a Sterling proposal always shows
- Deliverables, responsibilities, assumptions and exclusions, written down
- Accreditation body fees listed separately, so the whole programme cost can be compared
- Effivity, training and Academy access itemised, at no additional cost
- Payment milestones tied to deliverables, not to dates
- One all-inclusive proposal. No surprises, ever
Timeline
How long does ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation take?
Plan on six to twelve months for a first accreditation, longer where a scheme and its examinations start from nothing. Three things set the pace: the job or practice analysis and the examination must exist, and be reviewed, before anyone is certified; the certification process must run so there are applications, examinations and decisions to sample; and the accreditation body needs time for document review, a witnessed examination and its decision. The plan is built around those dependencies, with milestones tracked in Effivity.
| Phase | What determines the pace |
|---|---|
| Scope and gap analysis | Access to scheme documents, examination material, staff and records, and how quickly the certifications on the scope are agreed |
| Build and implementation | Whether analyses and examinations exist, subject-matter experts' availability, translation, and separating training from certification |
| Evidence and review | Examination sessions under the new process so that records accumulate, statistical review of the results, then internal audit and management review |
| Accreditation assessment | The accreditation body's queue and any scheme review, assessor availability, the witnessed examination date, findings closure and the decision |
If a regulator, a scheme owner or the 2029 transition has fixed a date, tell us at the start. We will say what is achievable, which examination session to offer for witnessing and where an early decision on scope saves months. A date promised before anyone has read your scheme is a guess.
Challenges
Common ISO/IEC 17024 implementation challenges
Most certification body programmes stall on the same five points, and impartiality usually comes first. Each has a practical answer.
The same people train, examine and decide.
Common where certification grew out of a training business. We map every role against the certification process, separate examining and deciding from teaching, restrict access to examination content and document the remaining impartiality risks and their handling.
The examination has never been analysed.
Questions written by one expert, a pass mark nobody can explain, no data on how questions perform. We build a blueprint from the job or practice analysis, review the questions with subject-matter experts, set the pass mark by a documented method and add the statistical review that keeps the examination valid and reliable.
The scheme belongs to someone else.
A regulator, a parent association or an international body owns the scheme you operate. You still have to show that it meets the scheme requirements of the standard, so we review it against clause 8, agree the gaps with the owner and record how each is covered.
Examinations moved online faster than the controls.
Remote invigilation, AI monitoring and online question banks bring security and fairness risks, and clause 6.5 adds AI requirements. We document how each tool is validated, who reviews what it flags and what candidates are told.
Recertification is a form and a fee.
A signed renewal form and no evidence of continued competence. Global ACI's transition requirements list, among the 2026 changes, that a self-declaration is no longer accepted for recertification. We rebuild recertification around evidence the scheme defines, at an interval taken from the job or practice analysis.
Your engagement
What your ISO/IEC 17024 engagement includes
Your agreed scope covers what an assessment-ready certification body needs: the impartiality case, schemes and examinations that hold up, the management system and people who can explain it to an assessor, from one team, for one all-inclusive proposal.
Scope, gap analysis and implementation plan
Scheme by scheme, with responsibilities, dates and decision owners agreed before work starts.
Management system and scheme documentation
Procedures, scheme documents, blueprints, marking guides, security rules and forms, built on Sterling's template sets with your staff and experts.
Effivity ISO & GRC software
Your management system runs in Effivity from day one, included with the engagement at no additional cost.
Training for everyone
Internal auditor training for your audit team, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.
Internal audit and management review
Conducted or facilitated as agreed, observing an examination session as well as the office, with findings closed before the assessors arrive.
Assessment readiness and support
Preparation for the document and scheme reviews, the pre-assessment where offered and the witnessed examination, and support until the decision.
Accreditation decisions remain with the independent accreditation body.
How we deliver
How Sterling supports your ISO/IEC 17024 implementation
Every ISO/IEC 17024 engagement runs on Sterling OS™, our delivery operating system: five phases, each with named deliverables, decision owners and evidence. Choose the support level that fits your capacity; method, software and accountability stay the same.
- 01Design™Guided implementation: your team builds the schemes, examinations and system with Sterling's structure, templates, workshops and coaching.
- 02Drive™Fully managed consulting: Sterling consultants take on the agreed documentation, impartiality analysis and examination support with your subject-matter experts.
- 03Sustain™Post-accreditation operation: surveillance readiness, internal audits, scheme and examination reviews, refreshers and training for new staff, every year.
- 04Automate™The management system in Effivity: documents, records, competence, outsourcing, impartiality risks, appeals, complaints, audits, actions and management review in one workspace.
- 05Revise™The move from the 2012 to the 2026 edition, new schemes and levels, and changes in regulation or in the accreditation body's requirements.
Before work starts we name your engagement team, set a weekly working session and agree deliverables and decision owners. Progress is reviewed against them, so an examination that will not be ready for witnessing shows up in month two, not in the assessment report.
How Sterling OS™ worksOften combined with
Standards organisations pair with ISO/IEC 17024
- CAP accreditationCAP accreditation readiness for laboratories: checklist gap analysis, method records, self-inspection and peer inspection support.
- ISO 10012ISO 10012 Measurement Management certification consulting: measurement processes and equipment controlled for valid results, ready for a certification audit.
- ISO 14065ISO 14065 accreditation and requirements for bodies verifying environmental information: GHG statements, footprints, the route, cost and timing factors.
- ISO 15189ISO 15189 accreditation consulting for medical laboratories: quality and competence for reliable, timely results, prepared for the accreditation assessment.
- ISO 15190ISO 15190 laboratory safety for medical labs: gap and risk assessment, procedures, training and internal audit alongside ISO 15189.
- ISO 17034ISO 17034 accreditation consulting for reference material producers: competence and consistent operation evidenced and prepared for accreditation assessment.
Effivity · ISO/IEC 17024 management system software, included in every engagement
How Effivity helps you fulfil, automate and simplify the requirements of ISO/IEC 17024:2026.
Every Sterling ISO/IEC 17024 engagement includes Effivity, the ISO and GRC automation platform built by the Sterling group and used in 50+ countries. Effivity runs a certification body's management system layer, the part most likely to drift between assessments: documents, records, competence, outsourced providers, impartiality risks, appeals, complaints, corrective action, internal audits and management review. Your consultant configures it within the agreed scope; candidate records, results and question banks stay in your own certification platforms and are linked or attached as evidence, so the assessor sees one connected system. It is included with the engagement, at no additional cost.
Impartiality risks and conflict-of-interest declarations
Risks from ownership, training, fees and relationships in one register with owners, safeguards and review dates, plus declarations from everyone involved, so clause 4 is reviewed on a schedule, not rewritten before each visit.
Organisation, decision authority and the training boundary
The structure, the people authorised to decide on certification and the documented boundary between training and examinations, kept current as the body changes.
Examiner, invigilator and decision-maker records
Competence criteria per role, qualifications, training, authorisations, monitoring and signed confidentiality statements, linked to Sterling Academy, so the competence matrix is a report, not a reconstruction.
Examination centres and outsourced providers
Agreements, evaluations and monitoring for examination centres, invigilation services, question writers and delivery platforms, so outsourced work stays under the body's responsibility.
A register of AI in the certification process
Each use of AI, from drafting questions to remote invigilation, with its purpose, validation, human review and what candidates are told, kept as a register and reviewed like any other risk.
Schemes, job or practice analyses and reviews
Scheme documents under version control, the job or practice analysis behind each, and every review and change, so the assessor can trace job tasks to examination content.
Appeals, complaints and corrective action
Investigated and decided by people not involved in the original decision, closed with root cause and evidence, and visible to management before they become a pattern.
Documents, internal audits, management review and risks
Controlled documents and records, an internal audit programme and a management review each year, and the risks and opportunities register that replaces preventive action in the 2026 edition.
What this means at the assessment
The assessor asks for the impartiality analysis, the record of the examiner about to be witnessed, the last scheme review, appeals since the previous visit and, under the 2026 edition, how AI is used in your certification process. In Effivity each is a screen with dates, owners and evidence attached, not a folder assembled for the visit, and Sustain™ runs in the same workspace afterwards.
In your engagement
- Subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost
- Configured by your Sterling consultant within the agreed scope
- Your procedures, registers and records moved across, not retyped
- Admin and user training for your certification team
- Modules for QMS, ISMS and other systems when you integrate further standards
ISO/IEC 17024 client experience
Client letters on file, available on request.
Signed client letters for ISO/IEC 17024 are available on request. The client feedback wall lists every letter by standard.
Integrated programmes with ISO/IEC 17024 in scope
How a certification body runs inside an integrated programme.
- 01Integrated management systems
Professional institute: training, certification and information security as one system
How an ISO/IEC 17024, ISO 21001 and ISO/IEC 27001 programme typically runs for an institute that trains and certifies: one management system and audit programme; training under ISO 21001 and certification under ISO/IEC 17024, either side of a documented impartiality boundary; one risk register; question banks and candidate records protected by the ISO/IEC 27001 controls; an accreditation body for the certification side and a certification body for the other two.
Sterling Academy · ISO/IEC 17024 e-learning
Train everyone who touches an examination, not only the certification manager.
An assessor watches examiners and invigilators at work, not the scheme document. Sterling Academy provides e-learning for everyone who writes, delivers, marks or decides and those who run the system: video lessons with practice checkpoints, a final exam and a numbered Certificate of Completion, verifiable online, which serves as training evidence in personnel records. Sterling consulting clients benefit from preferential course access and special pricing through their Sterling consultant, including complimentary awareness training for their people as part of the engagement.
- ISO/IEC 17024 awareness for staff, examiners and invigilators, with the training record competence needs
- Practitioner courses for the certification manager, scheme managers and decision-makers
- Internal auditor training for the people who will audit the body, as applicable to your standard, as part of the engagement
- Learner progress by role and a training status report for the assessor
- New examiners and invigilators trained as they join, so records are current at every surveillance
- A Sterling consultant reachable when a learner needs one
Sterling Academy courses for an ISO/IEC 17024 programme
Who takes which course, and the evidence it leaves.
ISO/IEC 17024 Awareness
What accreditation is, what the standard requires of the certification body and of each person in it, why impartiality, fairness, confidentiality and examination security matter, and how they show up from application to recertification.
View the courseDocumented Information Management
Documented information and its control, including the scheme documents, examination material and certification records that must stay current, confidential and secure.
View the courseNonconformity Management
Nonconformities in the certification process and the system, what happens to affected results and certificates, appeals and complaints, and corrective action with evidence that the cause has gone.
View the courseRisk Management
Risks to impartiality under clause 4 and risks and opportunities under clause 10, with the register, ownership and review that replace preventive action in the 2026 edition.
View the courseInternal auditor training
Delivered by your Sterling consultant for the people who will audit the body, from the office to the examination room, with exercises on your own schemes, and a Certificate of Competence.
Integrating other standards?
Awareness courses for ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 42001, ISO/IEC 17025, ISO/IEC 17020 and more, so a body inside a larger organisation trains one workforce on one platform.
See all coursesSterling consulting clients arrange Academy access through their consultant. A Sterling Academy certificate is a training certificate, not a certification of persons; accreditation of your body remains with the accreditation body.
Keep exploring
Explore more about ISO/IEC 17024
Watch a video on how to implement ISO 17024 here.
Watch a video on ISO 17024 requirements here.
Why Sterling
Want successful ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation? Come to Sterling.
Whether you certify one occupation in one country or run schemes across regions and languages, Sterling helps you draw the impartiality boundary accurately, build examinations you can defend and keep a system your staff will run.
Management systems in 60+ countries since 2003
Across sectors, regulators and languages, with one engagement team accountable wherever your candidates sit examinations.
All-inclusive proposal
Consulting, Effivity, training and Academy access in one proposal, with accreditation body fees shown separately. No surprises, ever.
A system your staff will use
Less documentation and maximum effectiveness: scheme files, records, training and software connected to the examination itself, so staff adopt the system instead of working around it.
Expert and experienced consultants
Consultants who know the conformity assessment standards and have implemented management systems since 2003, building the impartiality case and examination evidence properly the first time.
The Sterling Promise
What our ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation success guarantee means
We stay with you until the ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation outcome agreed in your engagement is achieved, through consulting, assessment preparation and the resolution of findings. Plain explanations, practical delivery, included software and staff learning turn the investment into a capability your certification body keeps.
The engagement identifies the standard, the schemes on the scope applied for, the outcome and the responsibilities. Your body supplies accurate information, runs the agreed examinations and reviews, and puts the controls into use. The accreditation body assesses independently and makes the decision. Our commitment concerns the agreed accreditation support, not a promise that every employer or regulator will recognise every certificate.
After accreditation
What happens after ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation?
Accreditation runs in cycles, with surveillance and a full reassessment on the cycle the accreditation body sets; UKAS confirms accreditation annually and reassesses every fourth year, while EIAC works to a three-year cycle. Between visits the body keeps reviewing schemes and examinations, monitoring examiners and invigilators, recertifying certified persons, auditing the system and reporting significant changes as its accreditation body requires.
Under Sterling OS™ Sustain™ we review appeals, complaints, examination statistics, security incidents and impartiality risks alongside audits, management reviews and surveillance preparation, and prepare new schemes as scope extensions.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions about ISO/IEC 17024
Is ISO/IEC 17024 a certification or an accreditation?
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.
What is a certification scheme, and do we have to own it?
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.
We run training courses. Can we also certify the people we train?
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.
What changed in ISO/IEC 17024:2026, and when do we have to transition?
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.
Can examinations be held online, and can AI be used?
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.
Which accreditation body should we apply to, and will our certificates be recognised abroad?
Normally the national body, for example PAB (Philippines), NABCB (India), UKAS (United Kingdom), EIAC (Dubai), GAC (Gulf states), ANAB or IAS (United States) or SAC (Singapore), provided it is a Global ACI MRA signatory for certification of persons. Signatories recognise one another's accreditations as equivalent, except where regulation or law provides otherwise, so check the register.
How long is a person's certification valid, and what does recertification involve?
The scheme decides: the job or practice analysis sets the recertification requirements and interval, and the scheme sets the methods, such as professional development, a structured interview, an on-site assessment or re-examination. Under the 2026 edition a self-declaration is no longer accepted, and surveillance between certification and recertification applies where the scheme calls for it.
Does Sterling accredit certification bodies or certify persons?
No. Sterling provides consulting and assessment readiness. An independent accreditation body assesses your body, witnesses an examination and decides, and your body certifies its candidates. No legitimate provider can both prepare you and accredit you.
What do you need to prepare an ISO/IEC 17024 proposal?
The certifications for the scope, who owns each scheme, whether analyses and examinations exist, languages, locations and delivery modes, staff and examiner numbers, any existing system, the intended accreditation body and the deadline. With that, we can prepare a scoped, all-inclusive proposal.
Before the first call
Prepare a useful ISO/IEC 17024 readiness brief
Bring a short account of what you certify, for whom, and where accreditation should help; no manual is needed yet. Seven questions are enough:
- Which certifications and levels do you want on the scope, and who is asking for accreditation: a regulator, a scheme owner, employers or your own board?
- Do you own each scheme, or operate one owned by a regulator, an association or another body?
- When was the job or practice analysis behind each scheme last carried out, and who took part?
- How are examinations written, delivered, invigilated and marked, in which languages, and where?
- Does your organisation, or a related one, train the people it certifies, and who decides on certification?
- How does recertification work today, and what evidence does it ask for?
- Which accreditation body do you intend to use, and is there a deadline?
With these answers we can scope the work and price it realistically. They open a conversation; they are not a scored assessment or an accreditation decision.
Don’t be fooled by certification scams
If it takes ten days, it is not ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation.
Accreditation carries weight because an assessor examined how your schemes were built, watched an examination and checked the decisions behind the certificates. The market sells ways around that: "ISO 17024 certificates" from management system certification bodies, scheme templates sold as accreditation, examinations nobody has analysed. They cost less, until an employer, a regulator or a failed candidate checks the register.
How to choose a credible ISO/IEC 17024 provider
- Ask which accreditation body will assess you, then find it on the Global ACI list of recognised bodies, with certification of persons in its scope.
- Refuse any "ISO 17024 certificate" from a certification body. Management system certification bodies work to ISO/IEC 17021-1; only an accreditation body working to ISO/IEC 17011 accredits bodies that certify persons.
- Ask how the job or practice analysis and the examinations will be developed. A provider who talks only about manuals has never had to defend a pass mark to an assessor.
- Identify who carries each task, which accreditation and examination development costs are separate, and what support exists for findings.
- Ask what your staff will learn and where the records will live. Without training and a system, the evidence stops when the consultant leaves.
- Walk away from "accredited in 7 to 10 days", "no witnessed examination" and one invoice for consulting and accreditation. A certification body has to operate, examine candidates and be witnessed first.
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More on ISO/IEC 17024 and related standards
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