ISO certification process includes two stages. The pre-requisite to ISO certification process in India includes Choosing the type of ISO certification and an ISO certification body. The actual process begins with making an application or Contract with the ISO registrar and ends with the surveillance audits.
Pre-Requisite to ISO Certification Process in India
- Choosing the type of ISO Certification
- Firstly, you need to choose the type of ISO certification required for your business.
- There are various types of ISO certification available such as Quality Management- ISO 9001 2008, Environmental Management- ISO 14001, Information security Management- ISO 27001, Food Safety Management- ISO 22008 and so on.
- Choosing an ISO Certification Body
- Secondly, you must choose an ISO certification body. ISO itself does not provide certification to the companies. As a result, external bodies conduct ISO Certification.
- It is very important that you choose recognized and credible certification body. Evaluate several ISO Certification service providers.
- Then, check if they are following the CASCO standards. CASCO is the ISO committee that works on issues relating to conformity assessment.
- Lastly, check whether accredited or not. Accreditation is not compulsory but they must meet the requirements of ISO Accreditation bodies.
Process for ISO Certification in India
- Create an application /contract
The applicant and the ISO registrar should agree on a contract. This contract usually defines rights and obligations of both parties and includes liability issues, confidentiality, and access rights.
- Quality Documents Review
Subsequently, the ISO auditor views all your quality manuals & documents ensuring that the organisation follows all the various policies & procedures. This helps the ISO auditor to identify the possible gaps against the requirements stipulated in the ISO standards.
- Make an Action Plan
After the ISO auditor communicates the existing gaps in your organization, you should prepare an action plan to eliminate these gaps. You may have to make the desired changes in your organization. Additionally, you must train your employees to work efficiently while adapting to new procedures.
- Determination of Pre-assessment Needs
The Pre-assessment is an initial review of the Quality Management System in an organisation to identify any significant weakness or omissions in the system. The registrar provides the organisation with an opportunity to correct the deficiencies before the regular registration assessment.
- Addressing Non-conformities
The ISO auditor will audit the changes made by you in the organization. They will then try to identify the possible non-conformities in your systems and procedures to the desired quality management system. The applicant must carefully assess all these non-conformities and align it as per the desired quality standards.
- Final Auditing
After all the required changes are done in the organisation, the ISO auditor does the final auditing. If the ISO auditor is satisfied, then, the final ISO audit is reported and forwarded to the registrar. After all non-conformities are addressed and noted in the ISO audit report, the registrar grants you the ISO certification.
- Surveillance Audits
Additionally, after a period of time, surveillance audit is conducted to ensure that ISO quality standards are maintained by the organization.
Documents required for ISO Registration Process
Documents requires for ISO registration process is as following:
- Company Profile
- Company Letterhead
- Copy of Sales & Purchase Bill
- Company Address Proof
- Pan Card of Company
- Company Visiting Card
ISO Certification cost
Cost for getting ISO certification is not fixed. As a result, it varies from organization to organization. The ISO certification agency calculates the cost of ISO certification separately for each organization after considering them on different parameters such as :
- Number of employees
- Number of Processes
- Level of risk associated with the scope of services of the organisation
- Complexity of the management system
- The number of working shifts etc.
Time involved to Complete the Process
Time taken in completing the whole process of ISO certification also varies from organization to organization. Generally, On an average it as follows:
- Small organisations: 6-8 months
- Medium organisations: 8-12 months
- Large organisation: 12-15 months
FAQs
Not really, but auditors do conduct surprise checks from time to time to see if your business standards and procedures meet the required ISO mark.
ISO Certifications are issued by companies called Certification Bodies. Legitimate Certification Bodies are authorised by an overarching organisation called an Accreditation Body who is there to make sure they are auditing to the required standard.
No, at the pre-audit stage you will not get a certificate. The auditor will only assess your business system and procedures to make suggestions so that you can work towards making your company ISO complaint.
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