What is conformity assessment and how does it relate to ISO 14001?
Conformity assessment is a general term that covers any situation that involves determining if the requirements of a standard are being met by an organization. In the case of a management system standard such as ISO 14001, conformity assessment involves the auditing of an organization s EMS by an accredited third-party to verify conformance to ISO 14001 s requirements and this audit is the basis for the organization s certification or registration to the standard. As with ISO 9001 or the other ISO 9000 conformance standards (ISO 9002/3:1994), the value of an ISO 14001 certificate of registration depends on the confidence that others have in the third-party or registrar that performs the assessment and issues the certificate, and in the processes it uses. There must be some assurance that the registration was performed rigorously and fairly, and this confidence is provided by accreditation of the registrar that is, the recognition that a registrar is qualified to conduct a registration
