ISO Frequently Asked Question

FAQ- IAS

Process Certificate

Certification refers to the conformance or compliance to a certain characteristics of an object, person or an organization. This certification is often provided by some kind of external review, assessment or audit.
Accreditation is the process of formally obtaining the credibility from an authorized body to provide the Certificates.
ISO – International Organization for Standardization. ISO is an international standard setting body which composed of representatives from different national standards Organization.
The year in each ISO standard represents the calendar year that ISO standard got revised and launched. E.g.. ISO 45001:2018. The year 2018 represents the revised version was launched
You can periodically browse our website iascertification.com to get regular updates on the latest version of the standards. Each ISO standards may get upgrade to the new version in a minimum of 7 years from the previous version.
It is available in www.iso.org, or you can get your Standard copy from Certification Body by proper mode of application.
Annex SL is a new management system format that provides the High Level Structure to ISO Management system and helps in implementing multiple standards within one Organization easier. All standards are provided with common titles (i.e, 10 clauses)
ISO Audit: Verifying that the effectiveness of the management system is in compliance with the relevant ISO standards except accounts. Accounts Audit: It’s a systematic and independent assessment of accounts, statutory records, documents and vouchers of an organization to determine how far the financial statements present a true and fair view of the Organization.
The first step is to apply for certification. We will consider your application and initialize the process to get your business certified. Call us to learn more information about it.
The process of ISO certification starts from application/Contract Signing with a Certification body prior to the submission of application the organization should prepare the documents, Records and conduct internal audit within the organization, Once the application is filled with all the requirement stated IAS will conduct Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits as per the audit procedure, If NC are raised during the course of audit all the identified NC’s need to be effectively closed. Once the NC are closed with the corrective actions IAS technical committee will review and grant the certificate
There are various schemes of certifications applicable. Some standards can be applied in general to all kind of businesses such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001. There are sector specific standard as well such as ISO 22000(FSMS), ISO 27001(ISMS), ISO 20000-1(ITSMS), IATF 16949 etc. Organization can choose the one which will be applicable to your business based on the category of your business. You can also contact us to provide your organization the necessary guidance in choosing the appropriate certifications applicable for your organization.
Organization can combine two or more standards and obtain certification. This is possible within the basic/common standards or Integration of common standards with sector specific standards.
It reduces the Internal Audit time and External certification body audit time. The organization gains more clarity as the common activities are clubbed and carried out as one exercise. (Such as Internal Audit, Management review is all common in all standards). Finally, this brings down the cost of certification.
There is no particular time when you can get certified. You can apply for it whenever you want your business to have standardized processes.
It depends on the way your system is customized and practiced. Implementing ISO in your Organization will not increase the paper work. The ISO standards are designed in order to eliminate the redundant paperwork.
Have a clear plan. Train competent staffs in ISO and prepare a road map for implementing ISO. You can take support from bodies like IAS as we generally provide simplified solutions and easy to follow. Ask for the quote from IAS before going ahead with certification decision. We will definitely meet your budget.
ISO auditors don’t have any activities related to Finance process. They have nothing to verify in your accounts/finance process. On your request, ISO auditors will audit your Organization management Process such as HR, Purchase, Maintenance, production, Quality etc… In simple they will verify the effectiveness of the above management process is in compliance with the relevant standards to get ISO certification and submit the report to your organization.
Usually your application will be rejected if your business doesn’t conform to the related guidelines. However, to avoid such a situation, IAS/EAS will send a team of auditors to make your processes aligned to the necessary guidelines. Hence, such a scenario is rare when you get the services of IAS/EAS.
During Surveillance audit or with a short notice audit, ISO auditors will verify your organization’s effectiveness of implementation and maintenance of that to the relevant standards. If found not complying, Major/minor Non-conformances may be issued. If your organization does not take any action and correct within the stipulated time IAS will suspend your certificate. The suspension status will continue for six months and still if the organization could not rectify its process failures, the certificate will be withdrawn.
At any case, Your Company ISO Audit report is not required to submit to government, unless there is a legal Requirement in your country.
If there is any gap in your process during audit, Auditor may raise Non Conformance on the identified gap. The organization shall take necessary action to find out the root cause, provide correction & corrective action for the raised NC and submit the report to auditor; He will verify the actions and close the Non-conformity.
Every ISO certificate is valid for a period of three years from the date of issue. During this period, two surveillance audits shall be conducted in a gap of 1 year to verify that you are still meeting the relevant standard requirements. The organizations have to recertify the ISO certificate once the validity of three year period is over. Check the validity of your certificate.
Every ISO certificate is valid for a period of three years from the date of issue. During this period, two surveillance audits shall be conducted in a gap of 1 year to verify that you are still meeting the relevant standard requirements. The organizations have to recertify the ISO certificate once the validity of three year period is over. Check the validity of your certificate.
Apply the certificate number without any error, without extra spaces, with case sensitive. Still if you can get the certificate details, it means the possibility of your certificate got expired or not issued by IAS. You can contact IAS in such case.
Yes. You can employ/train individual with the knowledge & competence to understand the requirement of relevant ISO standards can establish your companies’ own documentation to meet the standard requirement. Proving ISO Awareness Training and ISO Internal Auditor training is the key to succeed and maintain the system. It is not mandatory to take assistance from external sources to do ISO documentation process.
Your existing ISO certification version is still valid throughout the transition period announced by IAF. During this period, you can implement the requirements of new standard and upgrade your certification to the latest version. Check the certification procedure for transition.
The focus of Surveillance Audit is to ensure the continued compliance with the relevant ISO standards. Auditors look for evidence that the management system is maintained, improved & corrected as needed. If you do not complete the surveillance audit, your ISO certificate will get suspend.
IAF – International Accreditation Forum is the world association of Conformity Assessment Accreditation Bodies interested in conformity assessment in the fields of management systems, products, services, personnel and other similar programmes of conformity assessment.
In order to transfer your certification to other certification body, the current Certification body shall be accredited by IAF. If you are having a certificate from the Non IAF certification body, you are not able to transfer your certificate unless you have to register a new client. If your IAF certification body accreditation expires, Organization has to transfer to new CB within 6 months. After the period of 6 months, your Organization will not be qualified as a transfer and it will be treated as a new client.
In order to transfer your certification to other certification body, the current Certification body shall be accredited by IAF. If you are having a certificate from the Non IAF certification body, you are not able to transfer your certificate unless you have to register a new client. If your IAF certification body accreditation expires, Organization has to transfer to new CB within 6 months. After the period of 6 months, your Organization will not be qualified as a transfer and it will be treated as a new client.
You can use logos in your Websites, Broachers, Catalogues and Business cards as per the Logo usage rules. In case, if your certification status is ‘suspended’ or ‘withdrawn’, you should withdraw the logos from advertisement. Any violation of logo rules is subject to legal action
Cost of certification is determined mostly based on the man-days. Man-days spent for planning, reviewing, conducting audit, travel, decision making etc. Additionally cost of accreditation and certification fees handling charges is also covered. This man-day cost varies between various certification bodies. It depends on the CAB, Accreditations provided, business sectors, process involved and service provided etc. To know the certification cost for your organization contact us.
Basically your organization may spend on purchasing ISO standard, hiring a consultant to guide your organization (optional), cost incurred in implementation of ISO systems and standards, cost for training your employees(some time covered in consulting), paying certification charges for IAS/EAS, travel and accommodation for audit team, Surveillance charges to the IAS/EAS.
ISO check lists are used by auditor as a memory jogger to verify the compliance with standard requirement.
HACCP is focuses purely on food safety, where ISO goes further. ISO 22000(FSMS) covers business processes and structures.