Accredited ISO certification versus non-accredited: What it means and why it matters

“What’s the difference between accredited ISO certification versus the plain ISO certification or ISO compliance?” This is a question I hear often. It might sound like a mere choice of words, but the difference can have a big impact on your company, and whether you need to get certified to some of the most-used ISO standards like ISO 27001 (Information Security) and ISO 9001 (Quality), or to another of the more than 22,500 standards that the ISO has developed.

So, what is the difference between being ISO Compliant, ISO Certified, and Accredited ISO Certified? Learn in this article.

The difference matters

This is an interesting question – not only for companies looking into getting certified, but also for those companies, and their legal and procurement departments, that require their vendors and partners to be certified. This is especially true when ISO compliance is sought/required throughout the whole supply chain. None of these are wrong or better than one another. Whether “ISO Compliant,” “ISO Certified,” or “Accredited ISO Certified” meets your needs really depends on the requirements that you and your customers have.

Knowing the difference could save you valuable time and money and even (potential) customers, as accredited certification can be an expectation or even a legal or contractual requirement.

Let me jump to the answers first, and then discuss the issue in greater depth later.

ISO Compliant can be a self-proclaimed title, when the company in question has implemented all requirements to its best ability and claims that it is being fully or partially compliant, but it has no independent assurance.

ISO Certified means there is an independent certification body that provides written assurance of compliance with the specific ISO standard.

Accredited ISO certification or, to be more precise, certification by an accredited certification body, means that (Read more...)