New ISO/IEC TS 17023 for Management System Certification Audits

Have you ever wondered how long your certification audit should last?ISO/IEC TS 17023, “Conformity assessment — Guidelines for determining the duration of management system certification audits,” has just been released to answer that question.  It provides certification bodies with a framework for achieving a basic level of consistency when determining the duration of management system certification audits.  And it helps companies being audited to understand how different factors contribute to the length of an audit.

These types of certification audits cover the gamut from food safety (ISO/TS 22003) to information security (ISO/IEC 27006) to quality (ISO 9001) to supply chain security (ISO 28003).  ISO and IEC have determined that it is better for all these certification schemes to be better integrated for those companies that want to certify to multiple standards.  With the release of ISO/IEC TS 17023, we’re getting closer to the goal of better harmonization of processes and procedures.

The ISO/IEC TS 17023 covers both the factors for the determination of the duration of the audit and the methodology for actually calculating now long an audit may last.  As a technical specification, the document does not actually establish requirements.  It instead provides guidelines for time estimation.  The committee additionally expects it will be used by certification bodies for the establishment of good auditing procedures.

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