A new standard from the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission is designed to increase confidence in management system certification.

ISO/IEC 17021:2006, "Conformity assessment—Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification for management systems" places rigorous requirements for competence and impartiality on organizations that offer audit and certification to standards such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. The new standard could make a major difference to the conformity assessment market, as ISO reports that approximately 888,000 organizations in 161 countries are registered to ISO 9001 and/or ISO 14001.

ISO/IEC 17021 is an expansion of management system certification. It’s been designed to be the single source of internationally harmonized requirements for certification bodies and their activities in relation to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, along with new standards for food safety, information security, and supply chain security, as well as upcoming standards.

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