There’s a new ISO/IEC TS 17021-2:2012, “Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems — Part 2: Competence requirements for auditing and certification of environmental management systems,” and it’s available from Document Center Inc. now. The new technical specification specifies additional competence requirements for personnel involved in the audit and certification process for Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and complements the existing requirements of ISO/IEC 17021.
In particular, the new ISO/IEC TS 17021-2 clarifies the requirements for the competence of personnel involved in the certification process set out in ISO/IEC 17021:2011, Annex A. The guiding principles in ISO/IEC 17021:2011, Clause 4, are the basis for the requirements in this Technical Specification.
Certification bodies have a responsibility to interested parties, including their clients and the customers of the organizations whose management systems are certified, to ensure that only those auditors who demonstrate the relevant competence are allowed to conduct Environmental Management System (EMS) audits.
All EMS auditors should possess the generic competencies described in ISO/IEC 17021 as well as the specific EMS knowledge described in this Technical Specification.
Certification bodies will need to identify the specific audit team competence needed for the scope of each EMS audit. The selection of an EMS audit team will depend upon various factors including the EMS technical area, the client organization, its environmental aspects and the site where these aspects occur.
ISO/IEC 17021 is a work in progress and will eventually consist of the following parts:
ISO/IEC 17021-1: Currently numbered ISO/IEC 17021:2011, the next revision will reflect the “parts numbering” and will become ISO/IEC 17021-1.
Part 2: as discussed in this blog, and
Part 3: Competence requirements for auditing and certification of quality management systems [Technical Specification] (Currently in preparation).
All ISO/IEC standard, technical reports and technical specifications are available from Document Center Inc. at our website, www.document-center.com. If you have any other questions or requirements, please contact us by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com). We are here to assist you with your standards purchases and management requirements.
