Quality Digest
Published: Thursday, March 10, 2022 - 11:20 (IAF: Chelsea, Quebec, Canada) -- The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) has announced that it is conducting extended market research to evaluate market support for a fully-populated management systems certificate database. Before IAF members vote on whether or not to mandate that accredited conformity assessment bodies upload their management system certifications into IAF’s certification database, IAF CertSearch, IAF is seeking wider feedback from industry to understand the level of demand from businesses and regulators. Whilst 1,193 accredited conformity assessment bodies (CABs, sometimes called registrars) have activated and uploaded nearly 575,000 accredited certificates to the IAF global database, this only represents approximately 36 percent of accredited management system certificates globally (compared to ISO survey data). The reason for this is because the database has been voluntary for CABs to participate and upload. A number of businesses and regulators spanning many industries and countries have requested IAF to mandate the database. These users have stated that for the global database to be useful it must include all valid accredited management system certifications. If it includes all valid certificates it will serve as a reliable tool to support businesses and regulators to verify certificates across the globe, thus reducing fraud, supporting global trade, and improving supply chain compliance. A fully-populated database would also allow businesses and regulators to monitor all certifications held by suppliers across their entire global supply chains and be alerted in real time if there is a change to the certificate status, something which can’t be done today. The database has demonstrated significant value to date, supporting thousands of businesses and regulators to verify authentic accredited certifications and supporting them to identify counterfeit and fraudulent certifications too. IAF CertSearch continues to support users from around the world particularly regulators during the pandemic and large corporations with their sustainability initiatives. However with a fully-populated database the value delivered to businesses and regulators would be exponentially greater. If you would like to have access to a reliable, global, centralized certificate database now is a critical time to express your thoughts. Should IAF make it mandatory for CABs to upload certificates to IAF’s global database so it can serve as a reliable place for the world to verify valid certificates? We would like you to respond to IAF’s poll, survey and or write a letter of support. • IAF Global Database Poll The IAF will collate the results and share them with the IAF so individual IAF members can use the results to understand the demand for a fully-populated database and then vote whether or not to make the database mandatory for CABs to upload. For 40 years Quality Digest has been the go-to source for all things quality. Our newsletter, Quality Digest, shares expert commentary and relevant industry resources to assist our readers in their quest for continuous improvement. Our website includes every column and article from the newsletter since May 2009 as well as back issues of Quality Digest magazine to August 1995. We are committed to promoting a view wherein quality is not a niche, but an integral part of every phase of manufacturing and services.
Risk Management IAF to Vote on Whether Certification Bodies Should be Required to Upload Certs to Global Database. How Would You Vote?
Prior to vote, IAF seeks industry feedback to understand the level of demand from businesses and regulators.
• IAF Global Database Survey
• Letters of support: Please contact info@iafcertsearch.org to send letters of support
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