05.1
The life of a certificate
The ISO and JASANZ pages quoted here do not set out an audit timetable for businesses. What they do describe is the shape around the audit, set out here in order.
Using the standard comes first
ISO says a business can benefit from implementing management system standards “without being certified to them”, and that certification “is not a requirement”. For ISO 9001, it lists situations in which certification is commonly requested, among them supplier approval and government tenders.
Choosing a certification body
ISO’s own suggestions for choosing one are to:
- evaluate several certification bodies;
- check whether it uses the relevant standard from ISO’s Committee on Conformity Assessment (CASCO);
- check whether it is accredited, bearing in mind that “accreditation is not compulsory”.
For management system certifiers, the relevant CASCO standard is ISO/IEC 17021-1, which covers the “competence, consistency and impartiality” of bodies auditing and certifying management systems.
The audit
In ISO’s description, certification “involves an audit by an independent certification body”, which evaluates the organisation’s management system against the standard. ISO publishes separate guidance on auditing, ISO 19011:2026, covering “internal and external management system audits”.
The certificate
Where the requirements are met, the certification body issues certification “as evidence of conformity”. A JASANZ-accredited body must apply the JASANZ Accreditation Symbol to every certificate it issues within the scope of its accreditation.
The register entry
JASANZ’s Accreditation Manual (issued 1 July 2026) obliges each accredited body to ensure that everyone it certifies within its scope is entered on the JASANZ register. The guide to checking a certificate shows how to search it.
While it stands
The manual’s definitions count “the control of surveillance or recertification audits” among the key activities of a management system certification body. The certified business also has a duty: accredited bodies must make it a condition of service that clients correct “any misleading statements made in connection with its certification status”.
Changing certifier
A business may move its certification between accredited bodies. The manual says “a valid certification under transfer remains intact during the transfer period”, that the old certifier must keep the business listed until the transfer is complete, and that a certification known to be suspended, or under threat of suspension, “shall not be accepted for transfer.”
If the certifier loses its accreditation
Its certificates stay on the JASANZ register for no more than “90 calendar days from date of withdrawal”, and the manual calls accepting a transfer from a withdrawn or cancelled body “a high risk undertaking”.
05.2
How a certifier earns accreditation
Before any of that, a certification body that wants JASANZ accreditation goes through a staged process that JASANZ publishes.
- Initial enquiry
- Formal application
- Document review
- Witness assessment
- On-site technical assessment
- Corrective actions
- Decision and certificate
JASANZ says applications should be made once the necessary systems already exist: “Accreditation is not a starting point for building them.” At the witness assessment, JASANZ watches the applicant’s auditors at work in the field, such as during an audit at a client site, to confirm that they “can apply their competence in practice, not just on paper.” Decisions to grant, suspend or withdraw accreditation are made by JASANZ’s Accreditation Review Board.
05.3
How the certifier is watched
Accreditation is not a single event either. JASANZ’s manual says an accredited body must undergo scheduled surveillance to keep its accreditation, and lists four scheduled activities.
| Activity | Its purpose, as the manual describes it |
|---|---|
| Office surveillance | To check that the assessed system keeps performing |
| Witnessing | To test whether the accredited body can carry out an effective audit, and to confirm that the certification decision that follows is valid |
| Probity tests | To test whether the accredited body works within the ethical limits of conformity assessment |
| Market surveillance | To survey performance broadly, by collecting and analysing data |
Office surveillance and witnessing are set out in a programme issued to each accredited body every year. On top of the schedule, JASANZ may run unscheduled surveillance, for example in response to poor performance; the manual describes the regime as “performance based”.
And above JASANZ sits one more check: to become a signatory to Global ACI’s Mutual Recognition Arrangement, JASANZ underwent peer evaluation “against internationally recognised standards”. The home page traces the whole chain.