ISO/IEC 17065 & other Assessment and Accreditation

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ISO/IEC 17065 is an international standard for the competence of certification bodies that operate product, process, and service certification systems. Certification bodies are organizations that evaluate and certify that products, processes, or services meet predetermined standards or requirements. ISO/IEC 17065 sets out requirements for the competence, impartiality, and consistency of certification bodies, and is intended to help ensure that the certification activities of these organizations are conducted in a competent and reliable manner.

The standard covers a range of activities that are typically performed by certification bodies, including the development and maintenance of certification schemes, the assessment of applications for certification, and the ongoing monitoring of certified products, processes, or services. It also includes requirements for the management of conflicts of interest, the handling of complaints and appeals, and the protection of confidential information.

U.S. Accreditation is a specialist accreditation and assessment body focusing its efforts to build sustainable futures for people and the planet. We therefore offer assessment and accreditation of certification bodies applying a standard which complements and does not contradict the United States Accreditation Inc. mission.

This means that the United States Accreditation Inc. is open to applications that involve organic and sustainable agriculture, environmental protection, social justice, fair trade and related themes. We are currently assessing certification bodies with activity 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
• Ingredients for organic and natural cosmetics
• Organic textiles
• Inputs for organic textiles

United States Accreditation Inc. are willing to consider other sectors and we invite certification bodies or scheme owners to consult with us. A decision to proceed or not may require considerable study and ultimately consultation with the United States Accreditation Inc. Board of Directors. Nevertheless we are happy to receive requests of this nature and to discuss your requirements.

Scheme Requirements

The requirement for accreditation of product certification is normally assessment against ISO/IEC 17065 plus any additional sector requirements that may have been described by the scheme owner or the certification body itself. Some scheme owners have however opted to develop their own requirements or based them on the International Requirements for Organic Certification Bodies where 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 lack of credibility of the certification.

The application from the certification body must designate and supply the standard against which the products will be assessed and declare whether the complete standard or parts thereof are applied. These details will define the scope of the accreditation which will be made clear in the accreditation certificate we issue and in any public statement.

Once the United States Accreditation Inc. have agreed with you that your standard is in the scope of United States Accreditation Inc. work, the first step to accreditation is to complete the general United States Accreditation Inc. application form (please see related documents section to the left of this information).

United States Accreditation Inc., ISO/IEC 17065 Operating Manual provides full guidance on implementation of this scheme.

Soon United States Accreditation Inc. Accredited Certification Bodies may use the different mark in combination with the accreditation symbol on certificates for MLA-subscopes for the ISO/IEC 17065

United States Accreditation, INC. has own programs signatory and accreditations and these signatories are recognised worldwide based on their equivalent accreditation programs. Mutual recognition of accredited certification in many markets reduces costs and adds value to business.