ESI is an accredited Certifying Body. The Importance of Accreditation in Acquiring an ISO CertificationAccreditation ISO Certification by an Accredited Certification Body means you have a genuine Certification and increased credibility. “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” —Abraham Lincoln, (attributed) Is your ISO Standards based Management System certified by an ‘accredited certification body’? Acquiring your certification for your ISO management system through an accredited Certification Body is essential if you wish to be recognized as having a genuine Certification for your ISO Standards based system. However, certification is not a requirement of any of ISO’s management system standards. This section provides a basic understanding of what certification and related terms like accreditation, and registration mean. Certification – the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. Certification is very often referred to as ‘registration’ in North America. ‘Registration‘ often means that the certifying body (aka Registrar) records the certification in its client register. So, the organization’s management system has been both certified and registered. Accreditation – the formal recognition by an independent body, generally known as an Accreditation Body (AB), that a Certification Body (CB) is capable of carrying out the certification audit process in accordance with the International Standard ISO 19011:2011. ISO 19011:2011 provides guidance on auditing management systems, including the principles of auditing, managing an audit program and conducting management system audits, as well as guidance on the evaluation of competence of individuals involved in the audit process, including the person managing the audit program, auditors and audit teams.