ISO/IEC 17029 accreditation consulting for validation and verification statements people can rely on.

What it is

What is ISO/IEC 17029 and what is it used for?

ISO/IEC 17029 is the international standard for bodies that validate or verify claims. It sets general principles and requirements for the competence, consistent operation and impartiality of those bodies, whatever the sector. The standard separates two kinds of work. Validation looks forward: it confirms that a claim is plausible for its intended future use, such as a projected emission reduction. Verification looks back: it confirms that a claim has been truthfully stated, such as last year's greenhouse gas inventory.

ISO/IEC 17029 is written as a common base. Sector programmes sit on top of it: ISO 14065, for bodies validating and verifying environmental information, is described by ISO as a sector application of ISO/IEC 17029 and is used together with it. Accreditation bodies, peer assessment groups, regulators, programme owners and clients use the standard as the basis for recognising a validation or verification body. The question an accreditation assessor asks is simple: can this body reach a sound, impartial opinion on a claim, and do it the same way on every engagement?

Current edition. ISO/IEC 17029:2019, the first edition, published in October 2019 by ISO/CASCO, the ISO committee on conformity assessment. ISO completed a systematic review in March 2025 and confirmed the standard, so the 2019 edition remains the accreditation criterion. Sector requirements, such as ISO 14065:2020 for environmental information, are added to it where your programme calls for them.

Who it is for

Who needs ISO/IEC 17029 accreditation?

The standard covers first-party, second-party and third-party validation and verification, so it serves independent verifiers, group assurance teams and supply-chain programmes alike. Organisations come to Sterling for ISO/IEC 17029 from four starting points:

• Your clients need an accredited opinion. Companies reporting emissions, carbon neutrality or other environmental claims increasingly ask for a statement from an accredited body before they publish, and an unaccredited verifier loses the work.
• A tender or programme owner makes accreditation a condition. Carbon programmes, sustainability schemes and public tenders often admit only validation and verification bodies accredited for the relevant sector.
• A regulator or accreditation body has moved to ISO/IEC 17029. Environmental verification was once accredited to ISO 14065 alone; UKAS, for example, required its accredited bodies to transition to ISO/IEC 17029 by 30 June 2024, with ISO 14065 used alongside it.
• Your group is adding validation and verification to its services. A certification, inspection or testing organisation extending into verification needs a separate scope, with its own impartiality analysis and competence records.

Accreditation does not create competence; it recognises it. The value lies in engagements that stand up to scrutiny from clients, programme owners and the public.

Requirements

What are the main ISO/IEC 17029 requirements?

ISO/IEC 17029 combines general principles with requirements for the body and for the way it carries out each engagement. The list below maps the requirement areas that ISO names in the standard's scope, in plain language. Your body is checked against the standard itself, and against any sector programme on your scope, requirement by requirement, during the programme.

• General principles: the principles that guide every validation and verification body and every opinion it issues, applied before any detailed requirement.
• Impartiality: identify, analyse and manage threats to objectivity arising from ownership, other services, relationships and commercial pressure, so that no opinion is swayed.
• Competence: define the competence each role needs, for each sector and programme, and show that the people and teams assigned to engagements have it.
• Consistent operation: carry out every engagement in the same controlled way, from agreeing the engagement to the opinion and the records behind it.
• Validation of claims: confirm that a claim is plausible for its intended future use, with the reasoning and evidence recorded.
• Verification of claims: confirm that a claim is truthfully stated, against the evidence and the criteria agreed for the engagement.
• Programmes and scope: apply the rules of each validation or verification programme you work under, and keep outside the scope the results of testing, inspection and certification, which have their own standards.

Accreditation process

How do you get ISO/IEC 17029 accreditation?

First build a body that works to the standard and run real engagements. Then an accreditation body assesses it. Sterling supports your preparation and implementation; the decision to accredit belongs to the accreditation body, and that separation is what gives your statements their weight.

1. 01
   Settle the scope and the accreditation body.Decide whether you will validate, verify or both, which programmes and sectors go on the application, and which accreditation body to apply to, normally the national one.
2. 02
   Gap analysis: compare the body with ISO/IEC 17029 and each programme.The gap analysis covers principles, impartiality, competence and the engagement process, keeps what already works and agrees actions, owners and dates.
3. 03
   Implement, qualify people and run engagements.Put the procedures and agreements into use, authorise validators, verifiers and reviewers, and complete real engagements so there is work to sample and to witness.
4. 04
   Audit, review and close the findings.An internal audit that follows engagement files from agreement to opinion, then a management review; we raise findings first and they are closed with evidence before you apply.
5. 05
   Complete the accreditation body's assessment.Document review, the office assessment and witnessed engagements; you close any nonconformities by the body's deadline, it decides on the scope, and surveillance and reassessment follow on its cycle.

Check the route before you sign. Only an accreditation body can accredit a validation or verification body; a certificate of "ISO/IEC 17029 compliance" issued by a consultancy or a certification body is not accreditation and will appear on no register. Look for an accreditation body recognised under the Global ACI arrangement, which lists validation and verification to ISO/IEC 17029 as one of its recognised scopes, and confirm its scope for your sector directly with that body. The accreditation buyer's checklist

Cost

How much does ISO/IEC 17029 accreditation cost?

No single figure fits every validation or verification body. A small verifier working in one sector faces a different task from a group adding several programmes across countries. What we can promise is a proposal that shows every component and a fee that does not move.

Timeline

How long does ISO/IEC 17029 accreditation take?

Plan in months, not weeks. The biggest single factor is that the accreditation body needs completed engagements to sample and live engagements to witness, so your body has to operate under its new procedures before it can be assessed. The body's queue, the closure of findings and the decision itself add time outside your control. We plan around those dependencies and track each milestone in Effivity.

If a client or programme deadline is driving you, tell us at the start. We will say plainly what is achievable and which decisions have to be made early.

Your engagement

What your ISO/IEC 17029 engagement includes

Your agreed scope brings together what a working validation and verification body and a prepared team need, from one team under one all-inclusive proposal. Sterling does not accredit; the accreditation body assesses your body and decides.

• Scope, gap analysis and implementation plan

  Programmes, sectors and the accreditation body settled first, with actions, owners and dates.

• Procedures, agreements and templates

  Impartiality analysis, competence criteria, engagement agreements, plans, review and opinion templates, built with your technical team.

• 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, 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, tracing real engagement files, with findings closed before you apply.

• Assessment readiness and support

  Preparation for document review, the office assessment and the witnessed engagements, and support until the decision.

Sterling OS™ sets how we work with you. Choose Design™, where we guide and your team builds, or Drive™, where we manage the build with your team; they are alternative levels of support, not stages. Sustain™ keeps the body ready for surveillance after accreditation, and Automate™ is Effivity.

Accreditation decisions remain with the accreditation body.

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with ISO/IEC 17029

• 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.