Published: Thursday, March 7, 2024 – 12:02
The Role of International Accreditation in Management System Certification
The IAF now has a new way to detect invalid certificates and can more efficiently detect fake certificates using IAF CertSearch, an online database of certificates issued by accredited certification bodies. The team at www.iafcertsearch.org detects, on average, 20,000 fake certificates per year.
IAF CertSearch: The international database for valid ISO certificates
In 2019, the pandemic began to take its toll on the world. At the same time, IAF launched IAF CertSearch to help companies and agencies validate ISO certificates being shown them by potential vendors. By 2020, many governments were pressed hard for medical devices and personal protective equipment. Thermometers, respirators, and test kits were in short supply as billions of citizens were endangered by Covid-19. Test kits and PPE were flooding across borders with ISO certificates supporting their claims of quality but with no way to verify whether those certificates were legit. The United Kingdom was first to use IAF CertSearch to screen ISO certs that accompanied personal protective equipment (PPE) that was in highest demand.
Like the tip of an iceberg, a valid ISO certificate is supported by many documents and processes hidden beneath the surface. The world rarely looks below that surface to understand what makes certificates valid. Less scrupulous organizations, and some that simply don’t know any better, can end up paying for audits that aren’t of the same caliber.
When it comes to protecting anyone or anything from harm caused by something manufactured, grown on a farm, or rolling down a highway or a runway, quality is of utmost importance. Our trust forms the backbone of what we expect from our food, cars, planes, medical devices, and protection of the environment.
So please consider turning off your ad blocker for our site.
Also in 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed devices free movement across the border using ISO 13485 certificates under provisions of the Emergency Use Authorization Act, again with no way to conveniently validate those certs.
Total number of ISO QMS certificates as of 2022. Table derived from the “ISO Survey 2022.”
On Oct. 26, 2023, the IAF reached consensus by worldwide vote that the database would be mandatory. The expectations are presented in IAF MD28:2023, “IAF Mandatory Document for the Upload and Maintenance of Data on IAF Database.” MD:28 prescribes the requirements for accreditation bodies and conformity assessment bodies that operate within the IAF framework for uploading all of their ISO certificates that have been issued, along with other data relevant to supporting IAF CertSearch.
Standards
The Role of International Accreditation in Management System Certification
There’s a lot below the surface of an ISO QMS certificate
More recently, the FDA published a final rule on Feb. 2, 2024, that it will be incorporating by reference the ISO 13485:2016 standard into its new quality system regulation (QSR), which now gives the agency access to audit reports from more than 29,500 ISO 13485 locations worldwide.
It’s not just medical devices that have suffered from the plague of fraudulent certificates. Soon after becoming aware of the effectiveness of IAF CertSearch, SpaceX, Airbus, and automotive industry companies sent letters asking the IAF to enforce upload of all valid certificates. More letters arrived from financial institutions and even the U.S. Department of Energy, which was working on a new global initiative to use ISO 50001 to improve energy management.
Accreditation bodies that are members of the IAF have to meet international requirements established in the accreditation standard ISO/IEC 17011 “Conformity assessment—Requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies.” In turn, accreditation bodies assess certification bodies using ISO/IEC 17021 “Conformity assessment—Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems.”
The database is intended to be updated by the certification bodies, which must be accredited by an accreditation body of the IAF. This ensures that only IAF-backed certificates are uploaded. It has taken five years to grow, learn, and refine the database to support so many certification bodies and their 2.4 million certificates. The IAF has now decided to make certification body participation in the database mandatory.
As of its 2022 ISO Survey, ISO reported that there were 2.4 million valid quality management system (QMS) certificates issued to the 16 most critical QMS standards. Their validity is determined by the fact that they are accredited by members of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) who are also participants in the IAF multilateral recognition arrangement (MLA). The IAF MLA is an agreement that holds IAF members accountable to special IAF assessments that reward an accreditation body—and all certificates that bear their accreditation mark—with an international recognition that all other members of the IAF must accept.
|
|
Understanding the ISOberg of international accreditation
The deadline was set for Oct. 26, 2024, for accredited certification bodies to upload their certificates. After this date, any certification body that hasn’t cooperated may be subject to losing their international accreditation, which would invalidate all their clients’ ISO certificates. This is a critical move intended to solve a most serious worldwide problem.
Eroding the use of fake and invalid certificates
ISO QMS standards are doing some of the heaviest lifting of some of the world’s most difficult problems. By 2025 it’s expected that IAF CertSearch will make it too difficult to use invalid certificates. It will also place on a pedestal those 2.4 million organizations that have risen to the top of the ISOberg to get the recognition and business they deserve.
Today, new management systems are being developed to eliminate problems with our environment and support the sustainability of forests, food supply, water quality, and the air we breathe.
Thanks,
Quality Digest
منبع: https://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/standards-column/role-international-accreditation-management-system-certification-030724.html
Our PROMISE: Quality Digest only displays static ads that never overlay or cover up content. They never get in your way. They are there for you to read, or not.
However, someone has to pay for this content. And that’s where advertising comes in. Most people consider ads a nuisance, but they do serve a useful function besides allowing media companies to stay afloat. They keep you aware of new products and services relevant to your industry. All ads in Quality Digest apply directly to products and services that most of our readers need. You won’t see automobile or health supplement ads.
The IAF is primarily an organization representing accreditation bodies that assess the certification bodies that issue ISO certificates to companies that have shown conformance to various ISO QMS standards.
The IAF members participating in the IAF multilateral recognition arrangement must also participate in peer evaluations and regional assessments, and must satisfy many more requirements laid down by the IAF in IAF mandatory documents—all of which further ensure that impartial audits and assessments are conducted by competent personnel.
Since 2019, the IAF has been working with a firm in Australia to manage the international database to help companies know which certificates are valid—that is, issued by accredited certification bodies. As of 2024, CertSearch holds roughly half of those 2.4 million certificates. Only half, because until now the database has remained voluntary during development.