Certification can be a useful tool to add credibility, by demonstrating that your product or service meets the expectations of your customers. For some industries, certification is a legal or contractual requirement.

At ISO, we develop International Standards, such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, but we are not involved in their certification, and do not issue certificates. This is performed by external certification bodies, thus a company or organization cannot be certified by ISO.

However ISO's Committee on Conformity Assessment (CASCO) has produced a number of standards related to the certification process, which are used by certification bodies. Read more about CASCO Standards.

When choosing a certification body, you should:

• • Evaluate several certification bodies.

  • Check if the certification body uses the relevant CASCO standard

  • Check if it is accredited. Accreditation is not compulsory, and non-accreditation does not necessarily mean it is not reputable, but it does provide independent confirmation of competence. To find an accredited certification body, contact the national accreditation body in your country or visit theInternational Accreditation Forum.

Remember, when labelling a product or system as certified to an ISO standard:

Don't say: "ISO certified" or "ISO certification"

DO say: "ISO 9001:2008 certified" or "ISO 9001:2008 certification" (for example).