Accreditation exists because conformity assessment, on its own, only answers half the question. When a conformity assessment body issues a certificate, a report or a statement, it is telling the market that something meets a standard: that an organization's management system conforms, that an item passed inspection, that a test or calibration result is reliable, that a claim has been validated or verified, or that a person is competent. Accreditation answers the question one level up: is the body itself competent, impartial and consistent enough to be making that call. This page sets out what ASCB checks, why, and how that fits alongside the conformity assessment decisions you already make.
Accreditation, from your side
As a conformity assessment body, you assess a subject against a standard and reach a decision, whether that is certifying a management system, inspecting an item, reporting a test or calibration result, validating or verifying a claim, or certifying a person's competence. That is your core activity, and it is the activity your own clients rely on. Accreditation is a separate, independent assessment of you: not of the clients you serve, but of your competence, your impartiality, and the consistency of your process for making those decisions.
The two assessments sit at different levels and answer different questions. Your own decision confirms that a specific subject meets a specific standard, at a specific point in time. ASCB's accreditation decision rests on an assessment of your body's competence, impartiality and consistency against the relevant standard, within its scope of accreditation.
What ASCB checks, and how it maps to ISO/IEC 17021-1 and 17011
ASCB works to ISO/IEC 17011, the international standard that sets out the requirements an accreditation body itself must meet. ASCB assesses your body against the standard for your particular activity: ISO/IEC 17021-1 for management system certification, ISO/IEC 17020 for inspection, ISO/IEC 17025 for testing and calibration, ISO/IEC 17024 for certification of persons, ISO/IEC 17029 for validation and verification, or ISO/IEC 17065 for product, process and service certification, together with any sector-specific requirements that apply to your scope.
In practice, that assessment looks at a consistent set of themes: impartiality and the safeguards that keep commercial pressure separate from your assessment decisions; the competence of your personnel, including assessors, auditors, inspectors, examiners and decision-makers; the soundness of your conformity assessment process, from application through to the decision itself; your information and documentation practices; and the management system you run your body on. Assessment is periodic, risk-based, and conducted by sampling, reflecting what was found at the time of assessment rather than a continuous or exhaustive check.
Where your scope includes sector-specific schemes, additional requirements apply on top of the base standard. These are referred to generically here because the specific set depends on your scope, and your assessment plan will confirm exactly which ones apply to you.
How this differs from your own conformity assessment activity
The relationship between ASCB and an accredited conformity assessment body is an oversight relationship, not a commercial one. ASCB assesses your body against the requirements of the relevant standard, decides whether to grant or continue accreditation, and monitors your ongoing conformity through surveillance and reassessment. That authority, including the ability to suspend or withdraw accreditation, sits with ASCB throughout, exercised under ISO/IEC 17011 and under the voluntary agreement you enter into as an accredited body.
This is a useful distinction to hold onto internally, and it mirrors the same distinction your own clients rely on when they choose to work with an accredited body. Just as your own decision is not a guarantee about everything the certified, inspected, tested, verified or certified subject goes on to do, ASCB's accreditation of your body is not a guarantee of every decision you make. It is an independent, standards-based assessment of your competence to make those decisions, based on what was found during assessment.
Where to go next
If you are considering applying for ASCB accreditation, the Application guide walks through what to prepare and what each stage of the initial assessment involves. It is the natural next stop from this page.