TS EN ISO/IEC 17021-1

TS EN ISO/IEC 17021-1 is the core standard that sets out requirements for bodies that audit and certify management systems. It focuses on the competence, consistency and impartiality of certification bodies, providing a common framework for delivering audit and certification activities in a reliable way across different management system disciplines.

Core principles for certification bodies

The subject of the standard is not only whether a certification body has technical knowledge, but also whether it can make decisions consistently and remain free from conflicts of interest. Standards of this kind explain how certification should be handled as a conformity assessment activity for management systems. In general technical context, management system certification can apply to quality, environmental, information security, occupational health and safety and other systems, but the shared theme here is the certification body's impartiality, competence and process reliability.

What the scope means in practice

• Organisational competence for conducting certification audits
• Consistency in audit and certification decisions
• Safeguarding impartiality
• Common principles applicable to different types of management systems
• A general framework for certification bodies within conformity assessment

Rather than defining technical criteria for one specific management system standard, this standard defines how a certification body should operate in a trustworthy way. For users who buy or assess certification services, the important point is that the standard addresses the working principles of the body issuing the certificate, not the content of the system being certified. In management system certification, impartiality and consistency are central factors that directly affect the value of the certificate issued.