The process of assessing and auditing a
business system (quality, environment, health & safety, information
security etc.) against the relevant standard. A system which is approved
as fully compliant with the standard is certified and awarded a 'certification'
Accreditation - the process that the certification
body (such as Certification Europe) is subject to, carried out by a
recognised national authority, to ensure that the certification body
is compliant with relevant standards and has the knowledge , skills
and systems to carry out certification audits in a particular field.
Each standard is subject to a separate assessment and accreditation.
In Ireland the accreditation body for certification services is the
National Accreditation Board of Ireland
Companies seeking to have a system certified to an
international standard should ensure that the assessment and certification
is carried out by a competent body. Ideally this means that the certification
body providing the service is accredited to do so and can provide evidence
that it has the expertise, skills, proven knowledge of the standard
and itself operates a quality service. A national accreditation body
exists in most countries to perform the task of approving, monitoring
and auditing certification services. The various national authorities
liaise through an international forum to ensure that international standards
are adopted in uniform manner and this enables international recognition.
If a certification service is not approved by an accredited
authority then the value of the certification may be questioned.
