What is the difference between the terms “accreditation” and “certification”?
Certification of products, personnel, or management systems like ISO 9001 or ISO 14001 demonstrates conformity to the requirements of a standard. Accreditation is the procedure by which an authoritative body gives formal recognition that a body or person is competent to carry out specific tasks. Both accreditation and certification use criteria and procedures to implement such activities.Definition of these terms is given in ISO Guide 2 may provide more clarificationPara 12.
