Common Issues in ISO System Certification

1. How long is the validity period of an ISO certification certificate, and can the certification body be changed at any time?

The validity period of an ISO certification certificate is 3 years. The first time the certificate is obtained is called the initial audit, and the certificate is issued upon passing the audit. This is followed by surveillance audits, conducted once a year. If surveillance is not carried out, the certification body may suspend the company's certificate. Once suspended, the ISO certificate becomes invalid. In the final year, a reassessment, also known as recertification, is required. After passing the reassessment, a new certificate is issued. After three years, a renewal audit can be conducted. If the original ISO certificate has expired or the original certification body has had its certification qualifications suspended, the company can switch to another certification body.

If the ISO certificate is still valid, in principle, switching certification bodies is not allowed. If a switch is necessary, an application must be submitted to the CNCA (Certification and Accreditation Administration of China). Without a very compelling reason, such a switch is generally not permitted.

2. How to verify the authenticity of an ISO certification certificate?

Many companies have applied for various ISO system certifications, but with the mix of certification bodies in the market, how can one verify the authenticity of their certificate? The methods for verifying certificate authenticity are as follows:

1) First, log in to the CNCA website: http://www.cnca.gov.cn/cnca/ 2) Then, click on "Service Hall" -> "System Inquiry" -> "Unified Inquiry of Certification and Accreditation Business Information": http://cx.cnca.cn/rjwcx/web/cert/index.do 3) Enter the most accurate name of the certified company in the "Company Name" field (no need to enter the certificate number). Then enter the verification code to view the registration status of the certificate.

3. How to use the ISO certification mark?

For a quality system certified through the prescribed procedures, once the evaluation result is deemed qualified, the certification body will register the certified company and issue a certificate, listing it in the directory of certified companies and making it publicly available. Certified companies may use the registration mark in promotional materials, trade fairs, and other marketing activities. However, the mark must not be directly used on products or their packaging to avoid confusion with product certification. The registration mark is legally protected and must not be misused or forged.

4. What information is displayed on an ISO certificate?

It mainly includes the certificate number, the name of the organization applying for certification, the relevant standards passed in the audit, the scope of certification, the validity period of the certificate, the name of the certification body, the official seal of the certification body, and the handwritten signature of the certification body's responsible person.

5. What is the difference between having the CNAS mark and not having it?

Simply put, one is an international standard, and the other is a domestic standard.

6. What is the applicable scope of various system certifications?

ISO9001 (Quality): Applicable to all types of enterprises, including trade, production, or service types. ISO14001 (Environment): Applicable to all types of enterprises, including trade, production, or service types. For production enterprises, the process flow must be reviewed to determine whether an environmental report is required (system integration services, software integration services, and trade types do not require an environmental impact assessment). ISO45001 (Occupational Health and Safety): Applicable to all types of enterprises, including trade, production, or service types. 50430 (Construction Engineering): According to CNCA documents, it is mandatory in the field of construction engineering. QC080000 (Hazardous Substance Process Control for Electrical and Electronic Components and Products): Applicable to all organizations in the electronic and electrical industry. Other industries can also manage hazardous substances (the enterprise must have an ISO9001 certificate). ISO27001 (Information Security Management System): Applicable to industries such as telecommunications, insurance, banking, data processing centers, IC manufacturing, and software outsourcing. ISO20000 (Information Technology Service System): Applicable to industries such as telecommunications, insurance, banking, data processing centers, IC manufacturing, and software outsourcing. ISO50001 (Energy Management System): Applicable to energy supply industries (coal, oil, gas, electricity, heat) and energy demand industries (steel, non-ferrous metals, chemicals, building materials, textiles, papermaking, machinery manufacturing, transportation, public institutions, and services). HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points): ISO22000 (Food Safety Management System): Applicable to food and feed processing and manufacturing (food producers, animal and pet feed manufacturers); catering industry (catering companies, restaurants, institutional cafeterias, meal delivery companies); auxiliary services (producers of food packaging materials); biochemical products (producers of food and feed additives, manufacturers of vitamins and nutritional supplements, etc.). FSC-CoC (Forest Stewardship Council Chain of Custody): Applicable to forest enterprises (state-owned, corporate, community, private, and all other types of forests); enterprises directly or indirectly processing forest products (lumber mills, panel factories, furniture factories, flooring factories, door and window factories, pulp mills, paper mills, packaging factories, printing factories); industries related to wood products (flooring, furniture, home goods, musical instruments, stationery, toys, gifts, household appliances, paper products, packaging, printing, newspaper and publishing); forest product trading enterprises (international trade and sales companies related to forest products). 13485 (Medical Device Management System Certification): Applicable to key processes in the production of medical device preparations that affect the quality of finished products. It is suitable for the medical device preparation industry (the enterprise must provide medical industry qualifications). 16949 (Automotive Industry Quality Management System Certification): Applicable to automotive OEMs and their direct spare parts manufacturers (the enterprise must have been operating for at least 12 months).

For any questions or business inquiries, please call Ms. Huang at 15513049001. Jinding Yu Cheng Certification will provide you with services.