As a further update on the developing International Standards relating to accreditation and certification of management systems, a new International Standard has been published on the competence requirements for auditing and certification of quality management systems.
The ISO/CASCO Joint Working Group JWG 35 has announced that the group has completed work on ISO/IEC TS 17021, Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems,Part 3: Competence requirements for auditing and certification of quality management systems.
This new Technical Specification supports ISO/IEC 17021, the XX and strives to address market needs in terms of the competence of quality management system auditors & was published in early May 2013.
Additionally, a new Work Item has been allocated to the Working Group 37 for the drafting and publication of ISO/IEC TS 17023 Conformity assessment — Guidelines for determining duration of management system certification audits, which is likely to replace the International Accreditation Forum guidance.
Working Group WG 37 have already agreed to advance this document on guidelines for audit duration to the Draft Technical Specification (DTS) stage with further news on its final publication anticipated later in July 2013.