Question 1

How long does ISO certification take?

Accepted Answer

Most organisations complete Stage 1 and Stage 2 within two to four months of applying. The main factor is how ready your management system is: it needs to have run long enough to produce records, including an internal audit and a management review.

Question 2

How much does certification cost?

Accepted Answer

Cost follows audit time, which the accreditation rules set from your headcount, number of sites, complexity and the standards in scope. We send a fixed quote for the full three-year cycle, so there are no surprises at surveillance.

Question 3

How long is an ISO certificate valid?

Accepted Answer

Three years, provided surveillance audits in the first and second years are passed. A recertification audit before expiry renews it for another three years.

Question 4

Can several standards be audited together?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Standards that share the ISO harmonised structure, such as ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001, can be audited as one integrated management system, which usually reduces the total audit time.

Question 5

Do you help us write our policies and procedures?

Accepted Answer

No. Accredited certification bodies must stay impartial, so we never design or implement the systems we certify. We can tell you what the standard requires and what we will look at, and an optional pre-assessment can show you where you stand.

Question 6

What is a CERT-In empanelled audit?

Accepted Answer

It is an information security audit carried out by an organisation that CERT-In, India’s national computer emergency response team, has empanelled to audit to its guidelines. Many government and regulated organisations in India require their auditor to be empanelled.

Question 7

What is a safe-to-host certificate?

Accepted Answer

It confirms that a specific build of a website or application was audited and its findings were fixed before it went live. It records the application, its URLs, a hash of the audited build and the hosting path, and needs renewing after significant changes.

Question 8

Do you fix the vulnerabilities you find?

Accepted Answer

No. Your team or your developers fix them; we re-test and confirm the fixes. Keeping testing and fixing separate is what makes the audit independent.

Question 9

Is CMMI a certificate?

Accepted Answer

Strictly, CMMI results are appraisal ratings rather than certificates. A certified lead appraiser rates your organisational unit at a maturity level, and the CMMI Institute publishes the result on its public results system.

Question 10

How long is a CMMI rating valid?

Accepted Answer

Appraisal results are valid for three years from the date the appraisal ends, after which a new appraisal is needed to keep the rating.

Question 11

How do I check a certificate you issued?

Accepted Answer

Enter the certificate number on our verify page, or scan the QR code printed on the certificate. You will see the holder, scope, dates and whether it is valid, suspended, withdrawn or expired.

Question 12

What does a suspended certificate mean?

Accepted Answer

The certificate is temporarily not valid, usually because a surveillance audit was missed or a serious nonconformity was not closed in time. It can be reinstated once the issue is resolved, or withdrawn if it is not.

Question 13

Can I report a misused certificate or mark?

Accepted Answer

Yes. If you believe a certificate or our mark is being used wrongly, contact us through our complaints process and we will investigate.

Frequently asked questions

ISO certification

Security audits

CMMI appraisals

Verifying certificates

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