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Compétence

Exigences

Requirements describe what must be true of a conformity assessment body if its competence is to be attested for a defined scope. The applicable standard states them. This page explains the subjects those standards share. It does not reproduce their text, and it does not replace a document AKZERT has yet to publish.

An application is made by an identified legal entity, responsible for the activities in question. The scope is written so that another competent person can see what is included: the methods, the schemes, the fields of inspection, the locations where they matter, and any limitation.

A scope that uses only a general phrase is not yet a scope. Defining it clearly is part of the application, and refining it is part of assessment.

Subjects ordinarily examined

  • Impartiality, including risks from related bodies and from other services.
  • Structure and responsibility, so that technical and decision-making duties are assigned.
  • Personnel competence for the activities performed and authorised.
  • Facilities, equipment and environmental conditions that affect the result.
  • Methods and schemes that are fit for the stated purpose, and are controlled.
  • Metrological traceability, where the validity of the result depends on measurement.
  • Externally provided products and services, used under the body’s responsibility.
  • Records, reports and certificates that identify the work and its limits.
  • A management system that supports consistent operation and the handling of nonconforming work.
  • Complaints, and the body’s own response to them.

Standards, schemes and law

The horizontal standards — ISO/IEC 17025, ISO 15189, ISO/IEC 17020, ISO/IEC 17021-1, ISO/IEC 17024 and ISO/IEC 17065 — set the general requirements for each type of body. A scheme, a regulator or a customer may add requirements. Those additions belong in the scope and in the assessment, when they truly apply.

Legal authorisation to operate in a sector is distinct from accreditation. A body may need both, or either, according to the law of the place where it works. AKZERT does not grant that legal authorisation by anything published here.

Questions

Will there be an application fee?

Any fee will be stated in an approved document before it is charged. No fee is published, and none should be inferred.

Must an applicant already be perfect?

Assessment exists to examine the body as it operates. Nonconformities are raised when requirements are not met, and the response to them is part of the information used for a decision. This page does not promise that a particular finding will be accepted or refused.