ISO Certification body is an independent company that conducts inspections and audits. They are not employed under the International Organization of Standardization.
A company that would like to get an ISO certificate will need to audit by the certification body. There is a body called the Accreditation Body, which ensures the certification body has conformed to ISO/IEC 17021 and makes sure they continue to meet standards. The certification body recognized by the accreditation body (UKAS, DSM, IAS, etc) is called Accredited Certification Body. The ISO 9001 Certification Body you saw in the market are like SGS, Sirim, Pearl Certification and etc.
The famous accreditation bodies are UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service), DSM (Department Standard Malaysia), etc. The accreditation is to provides an assurance of the competence, impartiality and integrity of conformity assessment bodies.
Why a company plan to get ISO 9001 need to engage certification Body?
For the company plan to get the ISO certificate, they need ISO certification body to assess their company’s management system. Certified ISO certification body are the only party that can assess the company and grant them the ISO certificate if the company can pass the assessment.
When do a company require the Certification Body?
Once a company is ready and well prepared and have implemented the ISO requirements in the company management system, then the company can arrange with certification body for the ISO certification audit.
Where the Certification Body to conduct the assessment?
Certification Body will go to the company’s registered address for assessment. Beside, the assessment might need to conduct at the company’s client site too if the company scope is cover at their client site.