There’s a new ISO/IEC TS 17021-3, “Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems – Part 3: Competence requirements for auditing and certification of quality management systems.” This new Technical Specification clarifies the requirements for the competence of personnel involved in the certification process set out in ISO/IEC 17021:2011, Clause 7 and Annex A.
ISO/IEC TS 17021-3 2013 provides the details of requirements for the third-party personnel who perform the audits and certifications for QMS (Quality Management Systems) conformity assessments. It goes beyond the generic requirements of ISO/IEC 17021 by defining more specific areas of competence required by such auditors.
These expanded areas of knowledge include quality management terms, principles, and documentation requirements, as well as expertise in the application of PDCA (plan, do, check, act) and other QMS tools and techniques.
The ISO/IEC 17021 series will eventually expand to a set of 5 publications:
- ISO/IEC 17021, “Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems,” will be renumbered ISO/IEC 17021-1 when the next revision is issued.
- ISO/IEC TS 17021-2, released last year, “Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems — Part 2: Competence requirements for auditing and certification of environmental management systems,”
- ISO/IEC TS 17021-3, just released, “Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems — Part 3: Competence requirements for auditing and certification of quality management systems,”
- ISO/IEC TS 17021-4 is a draft at present, “Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems — Part 4: Competence requirements for auditing and certification of event sustainability management,” and
- ISO/IEC TS 17021-5, again a draft, “Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems — Part 5: Competence requirements for auditing and certification of asset management systems.”
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