Home / Certification Partnership Governance
This page states plainly how we work with accredited certification bodies — what we are, what we are not, and the rules that protect the independence of every certification decision.
ISOXPERT does not perform certification, does not issue certificates, and does not represent itself as accredited. Certification is performed by independent certification bodies under their own accreditation.
Application review, auditor competence approval, audit-team appointment, technical review, certification decisions, certificate issuance, and suspension or withdrawal are performed exclusively by the certification body, in line with ISO/IEC 17021-1.
Our consulting and software activities are organisationally separated from any certification-support role. They are disclosed to partner CBs, logged in a conflict-of-interest register, and managed under the CB's impartiality process.
No person who has provided consultancy to a client participates in that client's certification audit within two years, per ISO/IEC 17021-1. Every auditor signs impartiality and conflict declarations for every assignment.
No part of our compensation depends on a certification being granted, maintained or restored. We are paid for defined services, whatever the audit outcome.
Certification and accreditation marks belong to the certification body and its accreditation body. We use them only with written approval, per the CB's mark-usage rules, and never on our own materials in ways that imply we are accredited.
Complaints and appeals concerning certification are forwarded to the certification body's documented complaints-and-appeals process within 48 hours. We never resolve certification disputes ourselves. Escalation to the CB's accreditation body remains open to any party.
We operate as an entity working on behalf of accredited CBs under IAF MD 23 — open to witness audits, office assessments and unannounced checks by the CB and its accreditation body.
Audit records, client information and certification files are processed under data-processing terms agreed with each partner certification body, with confidentiality obligations flowing to every auditor and staff member. Where a partner CB is subject to GDPR or equivalent regimes, we support the required transfer safeguards.
Certification bodies, accreditation assessors and clients are welcome to raise any governance question directly with our leadership.
