ISO Certification V Accreditation what's the Difference
It is important to understand that ISO certification and ISO accredited certification are two different things. ISO accreditation or ISO accredited certification is when a company has achieved an ISO and standard by a certification body that is accredited by UKAS or equivalent. In most countries accreditation is a choice and not an obligation. BSI and the International Organisation for Standardisation themselves actually state that “the fact that a certification body is not accredited does not mean that it is not a reputable organisation, The main difference being that an accredited certification body can only perform the functions of an assessment / audit body and must not have any involvement in the set-up to certification process the way we or any other certification body is able to. This can therefore mean having to employ a company such as ourselves as the consultant to implement the system and have the accredited body in to certify it. This not only adds additional expense to the client but can also delay the time it takes to achieve the certification. On the other hand, not only can a certification body act as the consultant to implement the system/s into a company, they can certify the company once compliant to the standard/s and offer support and guidance throughout the year to ensure that the company maintains its certification and most importantly uses the systems to benefit the company, on an on-going basis.
