Certification versus Accreditation
What is the difference between certification and accreditation?
The purpose of the accreditation
The products of a company are certified by certification bodies and if they give additional confidence to the customer because they surpass their specifications, they are considered to be certified by the customer also. Therefore:
The certification of a certification body is called accreditation.
In the framework of product certifications, accreditation is the recognition of the conformity of a certification body. The accreditation is a guarantee of international recognition.
The purpose of the certification
The necessity to be certified in specific product characteristics is because the disappearance of the direct relationship between the consumer and the product that used to generate confidence. As a consequence, it became necessary to have mechanisms to ensure the conformity of a product.
The Company can have controls to ensure the conformity of a product in its making. Yet the certification was created to guarantee independently and imparatially that the evaluation of conformity are aligned with preestablished conditions in the making of a product.
In conclusion
The certification is orientated to the complience evaluation of a product or services in respect to standards.
The accreditation recognizes the technical complience of an organization to realize certain well stablished activities by the complience evaluation.
Armando Paredes
STRATEGA Coach