Organizations face a lot of confusion when it comes to ISO certification. Some of the initial confusions include ‘where should we get an ISO certification?’, ‘who are the trusted certification consultants?’, ‘what are the criteria to select a certification body and/or an accreditation body?’ etc. As a consulting firm, we have come up with a client based certification process in a cost efficient manner.

Some organizations get ISO certified for enhancing their brand image by spending a few thousand rupees. One must realize here that ISO certification is not just a paper certificate. It signifies the value of an organization’s commitment to abide by the ISO standard requirements. Taking the short cut to attain an ISO 9001 certificate is easy. For example, you can just approach an online inquiry portal based in Delhi who would then print an ISO certificate and dispatch it to your doorstep. Well, you could instead spend money on any designer and get it printed in-house! The designer will do a better job in this regard. But, is that what you are really looking for?

If the objective of your company is to sincerely improve your process, then we highly recommend you to consult a proper technical expert who is a professional at his/her field. Such an expert will guide your organization step by step towards implementing, sustaining, training etc besides addressing relevant areas of improvement and suggest you ample health indicators to develop your critical areas while keeping the ISO standards as a standard benchmark.

Why particularly Delhi? Where do we find cheap certificates?  

The ISO market in Delhi holds some of the cheapest, most un-trusted, un-registered companies and freelancers around. Many of these fraudulent agencies are certifying hundreds of companies and labeling them as ISO compliant. Delhi, the capital of India, often witnesses a number of startup companies operating without proper legal registration and they proceed to act as ISO consultants. Such practices are not limited to Delhi alone as it could be done anywhere in the world.

Case study for your reference:

Many organizations certify themselves as ISO compliant through online ISO agents who hold no credibility (like a proper office or communication), can rather print the ISO certificate on your own. But you will eventually have to face customer audits and face legal actions leading to a permanent reputation loss for your firm. When you face all these trouble, rest assured, you will not be able to track the fraudulent ISO agent either. You will not be able to present proper documents or any ISO document kit since these were not given to you by those ISO agents. These records and documents are very important since they can be used as evidence in the courts to prove your innocence.

How should an ISO Certificate look like? How does a genuine ISO Certificate look? What is the nomenclature of an ISO Certificate?

A genuine ISO certificate includes the following:

1. Certification Body (CB)
2. Accreditation Body (CB)
3. Certifying of (Standard)
4. Organization Name
5. Organization address
6. Standard code
7. Scope of Work of the organization
8. Annexure based on the requirement of Standard
9. Certificate Number
10. Date of initial certification, Surveillance date, Recertification due/ Certificate expiry
11. Certificate authenticity check link
12. Contact information of the Certification Body

Above are the general nomenclatures of an ISO certificate. This may change according to the design and appearance of  different certification bodies.

What is a Certification Body? What is an Accreditation Body?

ISO is an International Non-Profit Organization. It is a non-government, non-profit organization with a global network of national standard bodies’ constituting one member per country with an objective to maintain international standards. As it releases sector-specific standards, standard copies are released and the same is practiced, evaluated, implemented, trained, audited and certified by the accreditation, certification and all other interested parties of the in the market.

An Accreditation Body (AB) is an organization that provides accreditation services. In other words, it provides a formal, third party recognition of competence to perform specific tasks like ISO certification and other management services.

The Certification Body is authorized to give the certificate to the client. Accreditation Body is the organization which is authorized to verify the certification bodies and its operations in processing the clients to be ISO compliant.

ISO standards can be downloaded from www.iso.org. Standard copies are the guidelines for sector-specific areas. To know more about the same, please refer our previous blogs like What is ISO?  What are the benefits of ISO? How to get ISO?

Clients can approach the Certification Body directly for the ISO certificates.

What are the challenges faced while approaching Certification Bodies directly?

Customers can approach CBs directly but the challenge here includes the following:

• Lack of knowledge on the standard requirement.
• Implementing global practices without any dependence on consultants can cause major drawbacks in terms of resource allocation.
• Possibility of re-audits.
• Investment of time, money and resource without understanding the mandatory and non-mandatory requirements defined in the standard.
• Standard copy costs are high whereas you can get a professional with practical experience implementing the standard.

What is Compliance & Certification? Differences between Compliance and Certification?

Compliance describes the ability to act according to an order, a set of rules or a request. It may be ISO, legal and regulatory laws or other acts.

A document certified by a competent authority certifying that the supplied goods or services meet the required specifications is called a certificate of conformity.
To put it in simple terms, compliance is the practice of any recognized body evaluating this practice and acts as a proof certificate (which is awarded for their compliance).

How CertPro assists you with getting genuine service and trusted certification? Why CertPro for your ISO Certification?

On receiving a customer inquiry, our senior technical consultants will contact you and understand your requirements initially. We would then guide you towards the accurate path and assist you with the appropriate certification and accreditation body based on your location, nature of business and your customer requirements.

CertPro, as a team, has been successfully meeting our set objectives of providing quality service on time to our worldwide customers on a consistent basis. Our core team possesses the required experience to work in the field of consulting. This experience is not limited to just ISO or other management tools but we are also experienced to handle multiple projects for private/government companies throughout the world.  

ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 22000, HACCP, ISO 50000, ISO 29001, ISO 27001, ISO 20000-1, ISO 13485, ISO 17025 etc are just a few of our successful implementations and certifications over the years. You can visit our service page for more.

Some of our other points of strengths are given below:

• Regional ISO consultants will ensure the benefits of onsite and online consulting.
• Experts in industry standards will recommend and guide you towards the best possible cost-effective Certification Body that fits your requirements and ensure the effective implementation of your ISO certification.
• Experience in working with organizations of small-medium-large scale companies across various ISO standards.
• A widespread network of associates all over the world ensures you all the support you require.
• Cert Pro’s business excellence can push your business on a global stage too.
• Our state-of-the-art certifications will give you the ultimate competitive advantage.
• The industry-specific knowledge of our ISO consultants will optimize processes for your existing businesses.
• Focus on risk management and customer satisfaction; direct tools to boost your revenues and reduce operational costs.

We at CertPro have a better understanding of the requirements of government tenders. Thereby we assure you of a time-bound success for your ISO certification.