Overview

As products are designed, produced, distributed, used and ultimately disposed of, they can give rise to concerns with purchasers, users and society in general. Such concerns could relate to safety, health or environmental impacts, durability, compatibility, suitability for intended purposes or for stated conditions. Generally, these concerns are addressed by specifying the required product attributes in a normative document such as a standard. The supplier of the product then has the task of demonstrating that the product conforms to the requirements of the standard. It might be sufficient for the supplier to assess and declare its products' conformity. Nevertheless, in other cases the user or a regulatory authority might require that conformity be assessed by a competent and impartial third party. Assessment and impartial third party attestation that fulfilment of specified requirements has been demonstrated for the product is referred to as product certification. This International Standard describes the fundamentals of product certification and provides guidelines for understanding, developing, operating or maintaining certification schemes for products, processes and services. This International Standard outlines how schemes for product certification can be structured and managed. It identifies common assessment techniques that are used as a basis for product certification, such as product testing, inspection and auditing. Regarding the German collaboration, Subcommittee NA 147-00-03-29 UA "Produktzertifizierung" ("Product certification") at the Standards Committee Quality Management, Statistics and Certification (NQSZ) is responsible.

Document: references other documents

Document: referenced in other documents

Responsible national committee

NA 147-00-03 AA - Principles of conformity assessment  

Responsible european committee

CEN/CLC/JTC 1 - Criteria for conformity assessment bodies