ISO 17020 – Conformity Assessment System – Requirements for the Operation of Various Types of Bodies Performing Inspection

Further details

ISO 17020, is called “General Criteria for the Operation of Various Types of Bodies Performing Inspection”.

The purpose of ISO 17020 is to specify the general criteria for neutral inspection organizations, regardless of the sector being inspected. This standard also specifies the criteria for independence.

ISO 17020 (Conformity Assessment System) is intended for use by inspection organizations and certification authorities as well as other organizations related to the qualification identification of inspection organizations. This set of criteria may need to be interpreted when used in specific areas with on-the-job inspection.

ISO/IEC 17020 specifies requirements for the competence of bodies performing inspection and for the impartiality and consistency of their inspection activities.

It applies to inspection bodies of type A, B or C, as defined in ISO/IEC 17020, and it applies to any stage of inspection.

Difference of ISO 17020 and ISO 9001:

ISO 17020 is similar to ISO 9001 in some ways. However, it is aimed at ensuring that inspection companies are genuinely independent. Furthermore, that they have processes to ensure their staff are unbiased.  Therefore, it’s a standard that verifies those who measure things. It’s “inspecting the inspectors”.

ISO 9001 and ISO 17020 have little in common since they cover completely different areas. ISO 17020 is contains requirements for the competence of bodies performing inspection and for the impartiality and consistency of their inspection activities while ISO 9001 specifies requirements for a quality management system. ISO 9001 can be used by organization to meet requirements in 8.2 to 8.8 of ISO/IEC 17020 but only when the QMS covers the activities of the inspection body.

Benefits of ISO implementation:

– Increase customer and consumer confidence

– Increasing the quality of products/services

– Reduce waste and losses in products/services and ultimately reduce costs

– Save on consumables and increase profits

– Planning, implementation of affairs in the form of a predefined international system

– Improve performance, increase productivity and speed in affairs

– Increase efficiency and customer satisfaction

– Reducing the number of complaints

– Improvement and uniformity in the quality of products/services

– Timely delivery of products/services

– Global competition

– Prevent or reduce unexpected events

– Earning points in tenders, obtaining ranks and grades from government organizations, providing evidence in exports

– Advertising use in headers, company site and all advertising matters

– Earn points in selecting sample units

– Reduce waste and waste time

– Creating confidence inside and outside the organization

– Transparency of processes and indicators

– Ensuring that customer needs and expectations are met

– Production of product/service with better quality

– Help with more marketing and sales and create demand

– Increasing the productivity and motivation of human resources

– Correcting errors and preventing their recurrence

– Improving communication within the organization

– Prevention of non-compliant product/service production

– Develop sales methods and provide after-sales service