Accreditation of Management Systems Certification

INAB offers certification bodies accreditation to the international standard EN ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015“Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems”. 

 A management systems certification body (CB) must be able to demonstrate its competence to assess and certify a management system that conforms to specific requirements.

INAB accredits CBs to the international standard, ISO/IEC 17021-1 on demonstration of its competence to perform audits and certification in the field of quality, the environment and other types of management systems. Depending on the scheme, ISO/IEC 17021-1 is supplemented by standards which specify requirements and provide guidance for bodies providing audit and certification of some of these management systems.  These are identified below.

Management systems which can be certified by an accredited certification body include:

• ISO 9001, quality management systems
• ISO 14001, environmental management systems
• ISO 27001, information security management systems (ISO/IEC 17021-1 supplemented by ISO/IEC 27006)
• ISO 45001, health and safety management systems
• ISO 50001, energy management systems (ISO/IEC 17021-1 supplemented by ISO 50003)
• ISO 22000, food safety management systems (ISO/IEC 17021-1 supplemented by ISO TS 22003)
• PEFC, forest management system
• FSSC ISO 22000, food safety system certification
• ISO 13485, quality management system for medical devices

There are many management systems standards, which may or may not be suitable for accreditation; please contact INAB to discuss further.

 Accredited certification bodies may also be appointed as notified bodies. Notified bodies are conformity assessment bodies which are officially designated by their national authority (Member State) to carry out the procedures for conformity assessment within the meaning of applicable Union harmonisation legislation when a third party is required. They are called ‘notified bodies’ under the applicable EU legislation.

Notified bodies take responsibilities in areas of public interest and, therefore, must remain accountable to the competent national authorities. To be eligible a body must be a legal entity established on the territory of a Member State and, thus, come under its jurisdiction.

Further information on notified bodies may be found on the European Commission website.

Notified body overview schematic

INAB Accreditation Symbol

The Irish National Accreditation Board strongly mandates accredited organisations to use the accreditation symbol on their reports or certificates.

The accreditation symbol, ownership of which is vested in INAB, is a combination of the Board’s logo in association with the registration number and the accreditation standard. Reference is also made to the organisation’s scope of accreditation.

The use of the symbol is subject to strict criteria laid down in the INAB  Regulations.