ISO/IEC 17024: Conformity assessment - General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons is an

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standard which specifies criteria for the operation of a certification body for persons. The standard includes requirements for the development and maintenance of the certification scheme for persons upon which the certification is based.

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...
/IEC 17024:2012

ISO/IEC 17024:2012 was released in July 2012 and was last reviewed and confirmed in 2018.The standard was opened for revision in 2023 and is currently undergoing revision. This version contains requirements for certification bodies for persons in the following areas: * Structure * Resources * Records and information * Development of certification schemes * Certification processes * Management system The major changes between the 2003 version and the 2012 version are within the detailed information regarding the development of the scheme for certification of persons. The 2003 version required the certification body to have a scheme committee that had overall responsibility for the development of the scheme, but it did not elaborate on the components that must be included in the scheme. The 2012 version has an entire clause (clause 8) that provides detailed information regarding the components that must be included in the development and maintenance of the scheme but allows the scheme owner to be outside of the certification body. Other changes include a change in reference of "personnel certification body" to "certification body for persons", defining of additional terms such as "validity" and "reliability", and the addition of a "principles" section that defines the foundational principles for the standard.

Requirements

This section describes the general requirements for certification bodies. General requirements include criteria for the

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

status of the certification body (the certification body must be a

legal entity In law, a legal person is any person or legal entity that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, lawsuit, sue and be sued, ownership, own property, and so on. The reason for the term "''le ...

), criteria associated with the financial resources and liability responsibilities of the certification body (the certification body must have sufficient finances to cover its liabilities and for the operation of the entity), requirements regarding the

impartiality Impartiality (also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness) is a principle of justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the mo ...

and impartial operation of the certification body, and requirements that the certification body maintains responsibility for the decision on

certification Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

(the decision to award certification to a person cannot be outsourced to any other body).

Structural

This section describes the structural requirements for certification bodies. Structural requirements contain criteria for the organizational structure of the Certification Body for Persons including how it is managed. Specific requirements relating to the structure of the certification body in relation to

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

is included in this section. Specifically, if the certification body also offers training it must demonstrate how the impartiality of the certification is not compromised by the training.

Resource

This section describes the resource requirements for certification bodies. Resource requirements include criteria for the

personnel Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

and staff of the certification body. Specific requirements for persons (both internal to the organization and external to the organization such as

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

s and

volunteers Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergenc ...

) involved in certification activities are included as are criteria associated with outsourcing to other bodies. This section also includes requirements for other resources such as examination equipment required to operate the certification activities.

Records and information

This section describes the records and information requirements for certification bodies. The requirements include criteria relating to the records of applicants, candidates and certified persons. Requirements regarding information that must be made public as well as information that must be kept confidential are included in this section and criteria for the

information security Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data ...

( exam papers, etc.) are described.

Certification scheme

This section includes requirements for the development and maintenance of the certification scheme. The certification scheme is the competence and other requirements for awarding the certification to a person and includes a scope of certification, job and task description, required competence, abilities (when applicable), prerequisites (when applicable), and a

code of conduct A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the social norm, norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party or an organization. Companies' codes of conduct A company code of conduct is a set of rules which is comm ...

(when applicable). Criteria for the initial certification and recertification must be part of the scheme and includes description of the assessment methods, and the criteria for suspending and withdrawing the certification.

Certification process

This section includes requirements for the certification process including criteria for the certification application process, assessment process, examination process, and the decision on certification. Criteria for suspending, withdrawing or reducing the scope of certification and recertification requirements are included in this section. This section also includes requirements for the use of certificates,

logos ''Logos'' (, ; ) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, as well as religion (notably Logos (Christianity), Christianity); among its connotations is that of a rationality, rational form of discourse that relies on inducti ...

and

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...

, and requirements associated with appeals and complaints.

Management system

This section requires the certification body to establish, document, implement and maintain a management system capable of supporting the requirements of the standard. A body that has established and maintains a management system in accordance with

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of international standards for quality management systems. It was developed in March 1987 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ensure that they meet ...

and that is capable of supporting the management system requirements of ISO/IEC 17024.

ISO/IEC 17024:2003

Released by the International Organization for Standardization (

) in 2003, ISO/IEC 17024 was designed to harmonize the personnel certification process worldwide. In the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

ISO/IEC 17024 replaced EN 45013 (1989), which was published in the UK as BS 7513:1989. The issues that ISO/IEC 17024 tackles can be summarized as: *Defining what it is you examine (the competencies) *Knowledge, skills and personal attributes *Examination must be independent *Examination must be a valid test of competence Where competency is typically described as "the demonstrated ability to apply knowledge, skills and attributes".

Guidance

Each accreditation body provides various levels of guidance around compliance and the implementation of ISO/IEC 17024.

References

External links

ISO/IEC 17024:2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:ISO IEC 17024 #17024

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me .../IEC 17024:2012