Knowing if an ISO certificate is valid is far more important than simply checking if a company holds certification. After all, an expired or out-of-scope certificate provides no guarantee of compliance, which can lead your company to select the wrong suppliers or make poor purchasing decisions. These mistakes, in turn, could result in nonconformities within your organization.
In today’s content, we will explore key aspects you need to verify when checking a company’s certificate—or even to better understand your own organization’s certification. By the end of this article, you will have a deeper understanding of ISO certificates and the skills to evaluate their authenticity!
Moreover, we will discuss certification in general, so the tips here apply to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, and any other standard issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Factors to Analyze to Verify if an ISO Certificate Is Valid
With a keen eye, several details can reveal issues with a certificate. To guide your analysis, we’ve compiled our know-how into essential steps for verification. To determine if an ISO certificate is valid, you should:
1 – Verify Scope and Basic Company Information
It may seem obvious, but the first step is to check the company’s basic information. Verify if the company’s legal name matches the one on the supplier contract and ensure the addresses listed in the certificate scope align with the organization’s actual addresses. This initial analysis, depending on the context, may reveal issues or even invalidate the certificate.
However, even more important is verifying and analyzing the scope of certification. It’s not uncommon for companies to limit their certification scope to a specific process, product, or activity. While there’s nothing wrong with this, you must confirm that the product or service you are contracting is within the certification scope, supply limits, and the audited management system.
2 – Analyze the Certificate’s Expiration Date
Every certification has an expiration date, requiring recertification or maintenance after the validity period ends. Typically, ISO certificates are valid for 3 years. After this period, and following a successful validation of the management system, certification bodies issue a new valid certificate.
When receiving a certificate, you need to check its expiration date to ensure it is current and valid. This guarantees that the company is undergoing regular external audits and that its management system remains compliant with the audited standard.
3 – Conformity Assessment Seals from the Certification Body
It’s important to understand that there is a large conformity assessment infrastructure. This system goes far beyond the relationship between the certification body and the company, encompassing several organizations and institutions.
For a certification body to correctly audit your management system, it must itself undergo an accreditation process to ensure it can issue valid certificates.
Therefore, on your certificate, in addition to the certification body’s logo, you will also find conformity assessment seals indicating that the body has been accredited and is competent to perform audits.
For example, you might see seals from CGCRE or IAS, which are part of this infrastructure.
4 – The IAF (International Accreditation Forum) Seal
Just as certification bodies are accredited by external organizations, these accreditation bodies also undergo validation and must be part of the previously mentioned conformity assessment infrastructure. This chain adds more credibility to the entire process and ensures that the best practices are applied during certification.
In the case of ISO standards, every accreditation body is evaluated and accredited by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). This international seal ensures that certificates are valid in almost every country around the globe.
By verifying these aspects, you can ensure that an ISO certificate is authentic and valid, reducing risks and guaranteeing that suppliers and partners meet the expected quality standards.
ISO Certificate Validity
Verifying the validity of an ISO certificate goes far beyond mere formality. It is about ensuring the credibility of the company and the compliance of its management system with internationally recognized standards and best practices.
An invalid, expired, or non-accredited certificate can cause significant damage, jeopardizing business relationships, eroding the trust of customers, partners, and other stakeholders, and exposing the organization to legal and reputational risks.
At QMS Certification, our mission extends beyond issuing certifications. We are committed to transparency and credibility, ensuring that all certificates we issue are easily verifiable and fully compliant with international standards. Our goal is to provide not just certification but also the confidence that our processes adhere to the highest quality standards, giving our clients the assurance of a valid and widely recognized certification.
Thus, verifying that an ISO certificate is valid, authentic, and properly recognized demonstrates not only responsibility but also a genuine commitment to quality, excellence, sustainability, or any other applicable area. After all, market trust is built on solid foundations, and validating a certificate ensures that these foundations are real and reliable.
Now it’s up to you to prioritize transparency and credibility, carefully verifying these factors to ensure certifications that are ethical, secure, and sustainable!
