ISO Certificate

About ISO

ISO is an independent, non-governmental international organization with a membership of 161 national standards bodies. Through its members, it brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.

Our Central Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland. Learn more about our structure and how we are governed.

What are standards?

International Standards make things work. They give world-class specifications for products, services and systems, to ensure quality, safety and efficiency. They are instrumental in facilitating international trade.

ISO has published more than 21000 International Standards and related documents, covering almost every industry, from technology, to food safety, to agriculture and healthcare. ISO International Standards impact everyone, everywhere.Certification...

Certification can be a useful tool to add credibility, by demonstrating that your product or service meets the expectations of your customers. For some industries, certification is a legal or contractual requirement.

ISO does not perform certification.

At ISO, we develop International Standards, such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, but we are not involved in their certification, and do not issue certificates. This is performed by external certification bodies, thus a company or organization cannot be certified by ISO.

However ISO's Committee on Conformity Assessment (CASCO) has produced a number of standards related to the certification process, which are used by certification bodies. Read more about CASCO Standards.

Choosing a certification body

When choosing a certification body, you should:

Evaluate several certification bodies.

Check if the certification body uses the relevant CASCO standard

Check if it is accredited. Accreditation is not compulsory, and non-accreditation does not necessarily mean it is not reputable, but it does provide independent confirmation of competence. To find an accredited certification body, contact the national accreditation body in your country or visit the International Accreditation Forum.

Displaying your certificate

Remember, when labelling a product or system as certified to an ISO standard:

Don't say: "ISO certified" or "ISO certification"

DO say: "ISO 9001:2008 certified" or "ISO 9001:2008 certification" (for example).