ISO/IEC 17024: Conformity assessment - General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons is an International Standard which specifies criteria for the operation of a

personnel certification body {{unsourced, date=March 2017 A Personnel Certification Body is an organization that awards credentials to individuals meeting specific competence requirements relating to a profession, an occupation, a job or a portion of a job. A personnel certific ...

(also known as a 'certification body for persons'). The standard includes requirements for the development and maintenance of the certification scheme for persons upon which the certification is based.

ISO/IEC 17024:2012

ISO/IEC 17024:2012 was released in July 2012 and was last reviewed and confirmed in 2018. This version contains requirements for certification bodies for persons in the following areas: * Structure * Resources * Records and information * Development of certification schemes * Certification processes * Management system The major changes between the 2003 version and the 2012 version are within the detailed information regarding the development of the scheme for certification of persons. The 2003 version required the certification body to have a scheme committee that had overall responsibility for the development of the scheme, but it did not elaborate on the components that must be included in the scheme. The 2012 version has an entire clause (clause 8) that provides detailed information regarding the components that must be included in the development and maintenance of the scheme but allows the scheme owner to be outside of the certification body. Other changes include a change in reference of "

" to "certification body for persons", defining of additional terms such as "validity" and "reliability", and the addition of a "principles" section that defines the foundational principles for the standard.

Requirements

This section describes the general requirements for certification bodies. General requirements include criteria for the

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

status of the certification body (the certification body must be a

legal entity In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...

), criteria associated with the financial resources and liability responsibilities of the certification body (the certification body must have sufficient finances to cover its liabilities and for the operation of the entity), requirements regarding the impartiality and impartial operation of the certification body, and requirements that the certification body maintains responsibility for the decision on certification (the decision to award certification to a person cannot be outsourced to any other body).

Structural

This section describes the structural requirements for certification bodies. Structural requirements contain criteria for the organizational structure of the Certification Body for Persons including how it is managed. Specific requirements relating to the structure of the certification body in relation to

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

is included in this section. Specifically, if the certification body also offers training it must demonstrate how the impartiality of the certification is not compromised by the training.

Resource

This section describes the resource requirements for certification bodies. Resource requirements include criteria for the personnel and staff of the certification body. Specific requirements for persons (both internal to the organization and external to the organization such as consultants and

volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

) involved in certification activities are included as are criteria associated with outsourcing to other bodies. This section also includes requirements for other resources such as examination equipment required to operate the certification activities.

Records and information

This section describes the

records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

and information requirements for certification bodies. The requirements include criteria relating to the records of applicants, candidates and certified persons. Requirements regarding information that must be made public as well as information that must be kept confidential are included in this section and criteria for the information security ( exam papers, etc.) are described.

Certification scheme

This section includes requirements for the development and maintenance of the certification scheme. The certification scheme is the competence and other requirements for awarding the certification to a person and includes a scope of certification, job and task description, required competence, abilities (when applicable), prerequisites (when applicable), and a

code of conduct A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party or an organization. Companies' codes of conduct A company code of conduct is a set of rules which is commonly writt ...

(when applicable). Criteria for the initial certification and recertification must be part of the scheme and includes description of the assessment methods, and the criteria for suspending and withdrawing the certification.

Certification process

This section includes requirements for the certification process including criteria for the certification application process, assessment process, examination process, and the decision on certification. Criteria for suspending, withdrawing or reducing the scope of certification and recertification requirements are included in this section. This section also includes requirements for the use of certificates,

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and

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members * Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel ...

, and requirements associated with appeals and complaints.

Management system

This section requires the certification body to establish, document, implement and maintain a management system capable of supporting the requirements of the standard. A body that has established and maintains a management system in accordance with

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) standards that help organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO ...

and that is capable of supporting the management system requirements of ISO/IEC 17024.

ISO/IEC 17024:2003

Released by the International Organization for Standardization (

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

) in 2003, ISO/IEC 17024 was designed to harmonize the personnel certification process worldwide. In the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

ISO/IEC 17024 replaced EN 45013 (1989), which was published in the UK as BS 7513:1989. The issues that ISO 17024 tackles can be summarized as: *Defining what it is you examine (the competencies) *Knowledge, skills and personal attributes *Examination must be independent *Examination must be a valid test of competence Where competency is typically described as "the demonstrated ability to apply knowledge, skills and attributes".

Guidance

Each accreditation body provides various levels of guidance around compliance and the implementation of ISO/IEC 17024.

References

External links

ISO 17024:2003
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