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17065 ISO / IEC - Qualimark
ISO/IEC 17065 is an international standard for the efficiency of certification bodies operating product, process and service certification systems. Certification bodies are institutions that assess and certify that products, processes or services meet pre-defined standards or requirements. ISO/IEC 17065 sets out the requirements for efficiency, neutrality and consistency in certification bodies and aims to help ensure that certification activities of these organizations are conducted in an efficient and reliable manner.
The standard covers a range of activities normally carried out by certification bodies, including the development and maintenance of certification schemes, assessment of accreditation applications, and continuous monitoring of approved products, processes or services. It also includes conflict of interest management requirements, handling complaints and appeals, and protecting confidential information.
U.S. Accreditation is a specialized accreditation and evaluation body whose efforts focus on building a sustainable future for people and the planet. We therefore offer the evaluation and certification of certification bodies that apply a standard that complements and does not conflict with the United States Accreditation Inc. mission.
This means that United States Accreditation Inc. is open to applications that include organic and sustainable agriculture, environmental protection, social justice, fair trade and related topics. We are currently evaluating certification bodies that are active in the following areas:
- Organic agriculture and aquaculture
- Inputs for organic agriculture
- Sustainable Agriculture
- Sustainable Fisheries
- Social Justice
- Fair Trade
- Content Claims
- Recycled Content
- Organic and Natural Cosmetics
- Organic and natural cosmetic ingredients
- Organic Textile
- Inputs for organic textiles
United States Accreditation Inc. is ready to consider other sectors and we invite certification bodies or scheme owners to consult with us. A follow-up decision may or may not require significant consideration and ultimately consultation with the United States Accreditation Inc. group of directors. However, we are pleased to receive requests of this kind and discuss your requirements.
System Requirements
Product certification requirements are usually assessed according to ISO/IEC 17065 as well as any additional sector requirements that may have been described by the scheme owner or the certification body itself. However, some of the scheme's owners have chosen to develop or build on the international requirements of organic certification bodies, as this seems more relevant. United States Accreditation Inc. may not accept an application if, in its view, there is a lack of sector-specific requirements that result in a certificate being discredited.
The application submitted by the certification body shall specify and provide the standard against which the products will be assessed and indicate whether the full standard or parts thereof are applied. These details will specify the scope of the credit to be clarified in our certification and in any public statement.
Once United States Accreditation Inc. has agreed with you that your standard falls within the scope of United States Accreditation Inc. work, the first step to accreditation is to complete the year United States Accreditation Inc. application form (please see the relevant documents section to the left of this information).
United States Accreditation Inc., ISO/IEC 17065 operating manual provides full guidance on the implementation of this scheme.
Soon United States Accreditation Inc. certified certifying bodies may use a different tag along with the MLA subdisciplinary certification code for ISO/IEC 17065
