Problems of unaccredited Certification
Russell Lawson of the Federation of Small
Businesses said recently (Jun 1 2005) in his article
Quick-thinking is best defence against fraud
in the Western Mail.
"concerns are growing about malpractice in ISO
9001 certification, with some firms offering 'unaccredited' versions of
the quality management qualification. Various accreditation firms are
offering IS09001:2000 certification at a discounted price; however, some
organisations will not accept certification that is not approved by the
Government's United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
While UKAS believes the 'vast majority' of the UK accreditation industry
'does not lack integrity', it admits there is enough smoke to suggest
fire and that some organisations 'mix certification with the provision
of consultancy in such a way as to undermine the independence of the
consultancy service'.
In the past one of the unaccredited certification companies was taken to
court by Northamptonshire Trading Standards, and prosecuted under the
Trade Descriptions Act for issuing false statements. The offences
related to the issue of registration certificates containing false
statements that firms had been assessed and approved to ISO 9002. Two
ISO 9000 auditors certified by the International Register of
Certificated A u d i t o r s (IRCA) of the UK’s Institute of Quality A s
s u r a n c e (IQA) were hired by Northamptonshire Trading Standards to
help build the case against the unaccredited certification company. They
spent a day at the business and concluded that ‘it is the opinion of the
assessment team that the manual and procedures as prepared by the
unaccredited certification company did not truly reflect the operations
of that company’, The Trade Descriptions makes it an offence for any
person in the course of trade or business to knowingly or recklessly
make false statements. The case was later reported in IQA's Quality
World Magazine.
The main problem is that some public bodies may not accept non-UKAS
accredited certification, and many small businesses are not aware of
this."
Where to get advice about selecting a
certification body
There is some excellent advice from the Institute
of Quality Assurance on selecting a
certification body
I would also recommend the UKAS brochure entitled
Why risk it? which explains the problems that may be encountered
when tendering for work if you have unaccredited certification.
