Accreditation and empanelment

1.What accreditation means

Accreditation is an independent assessment of a certification body by a national accreditation body. ANAB and UKAS assess us against ISO/IEC 17021-1, which sets requirements for competence, impartiality and consistent certification, and they witness our audits to check we work as we say.

Accreditation bodies that sign the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement recognise each other’s work, so an accredited certificate is accepted in the many countries whose accreditation bodies take part.

2.Check that a certificate is accredited

Every certificate states the accreditation it was issued under. To confirm a certificate we issued, use our verify page or scan its QR code. Accredited certificates can also be looked up on IAF CertSearch.

• Our register: verify a certificate
• IAF CertSearch: the global database of accredited certificates
• The accreditation body’s directory, linked above, for our scope of accreditation

3.Scope of accreditation

Accreditation covers specific standards and technical areas. If a standard or sector is outside our accredited scope, we tell you before you apply and the certificate says so. Our scope can be checked in each accreditation body’s directory.

4.CERT-In empanelment

CERT-In empanels information security auditing organisations for a fixed period and publishes the current list on its website. Security audits we perform to CERT-In guidelines, including safe-to-host audits, are carried out under that empanelment.

5.CMMI appraisals

CMMI appraisals are led by lead appraisers certified by the CMMI Institute. Appraisal results are published on the CMMI Institute’s Published Appraisal Results System, where anyone can look up an organisation’s rating.