Occasionally we come across organisations that proudly show us their certificates for achieving recognition after having been audited against Australian / New Zealand or International standards only to discover that the certificate is not genuine.
There are traps for the unwary and it is very much a case of ‘buyer beware’!
This article aims to highlight how you can verify the credibility of a company claiming to supply certification services or issuing certificates as part of their standard services.
Definitions
Conformity Assessment Body: – (CAB)
An organisation required to demonstrate (authentication) their competence, credibility and independence before they can undertake and provide auditing &/or inspection services.
Certification:-
A process involving impartial, independent third party assessment of an organisation’s processes, products, services &/or systems.
Key Points
- Check and confirm that the company supplying certificates are an authorised CAB registered to do so by one of the many global accreditation schemes or systems.
- Don’t hand over any money or sign a contract until you have verified the details.
- After having confirmed that the supplier is registered and authorised, double check the fine detail to ensure the supplier’s costs and services meet your budget, service expectations and technical specifications.
- Consultants providing business services are prohibited from issuing certificates to companies for AS/NZS ISO certification.
- CAB’s are prohibited from providing consultancy services. The easiest way of completing checks is to review the websites of the various accreditation schemes or systems.
- If you still have any doubts then contact the accreditation scheme directly.
As an example here are links to the Joint Accreditation System Australia New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) register & website –
http://www.jas-anz.org/index.php
http://www.jas-anz.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=49&Itemid=1
http://www.jas-nz.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=44