The certification process

The route to your objective

Our auditors support you during the certification process. There are six stages.

1. The preliminary audit (optional)
Preliminary audits provide optimal preparation for the later certification audit. You gain an early overview of your strengths and weaknesses and can undertake specific measures to prepare for certification.
During this stage, the auditors perform a preliminary assessment to determine to what extent the processes already fulfill the specification requirements.

2. Document review
The audit team checks whether or not your documentation meets the requirements of the standard.

3. Certification audit
You demonstrate the practical application of your management system and our auditors assess its effectiveness.

4. Issue of certificate
If all the criteria have been met, your company will be awarded the certificate, showing that your management system is effective and conforms with the specification requirements.

5. Surveillance audits
Our annual surveillance audits help you continuously optimize your processes.

6. Certification renewal
After three years you will undergo a repeat audit for certification renewal. This ensures the continuance of your improvement process and proves your long-term commitment to the standard to your customers and partners.

How involved is the certification process?
As a rule of thumb: the larger the company (wide range of products, various different sites etc), the more involved the certification process. If you have already implemented management systems or drawn up documentation, this can reduce the amount of time and effort involved.