Certification Bodies

There are strict rules laid down which detail the responsibilities of the certification body and auditors.

Accreditation bodies are the governing authorities, either government owned or under agreement with government, that establish the suitability of any participating certification body in that country to carry out BRCGS audits. This is done by assessing systems and procedures, and monitoring performance.

At BRCGS, we work closely with national accreditation bodies, sharing information we have on the performance of BRCGS-approved certification bodies. As a BRCGS certification body you must have clear quality systems in place to ensure the consistent implementation of our standards and to ensure the capability of all your management, technical, and administrative teams. In particular, the competence of auditors involved in the certification process.

Certification bodies are assessed against ISO/IEC 17065, the international standard for organisations certifying products, processes and services.

Accreditation bodies are peer-evaluated by the Global ACI against ISO/IEC 17011 to ensure consistent oversight. All accreditation bodies recognised by BRCGS must be signatories to the Global ACI Multilateral Recognition Arrangement.

There are strict rules laid down which detail the responsibilities of the certification body and auditors. BRCGS ensures these rules and regulations are followed by carrying out formal performance reviews of certification bodies every six months.

During this review we look at five key areas:

• Quality of written audit reports

• Compliance to protocol

• Auditor registration, compliance training, experience and competence requirements

• How quickly the audit data is uploaded to the BRCGS Directory

• Communication with BRCGS

BRCGS awards a performance rating for each certification body based on their service performance. This rating reflects the overall management of the BRCGS certification scheme by the certification body head office, rather than an individual auditor or audit. The aim of this performance rating is to encourage continuous improvement for each certification body.

• 5 stars = Excellent

• 4 stars = Good

• 3 stars = Satisfactory

• 2 stars = Service improvement required

• 1 star = Unsatisfactory

Certification bodies that have not undertaken enough audits in the period to be rated will shown as 'Rating pending'. 

Certification bodies can be searched for by performance rating in the BRCGS Directory.

We are committed to sharing information with certification bodies and auditors and encourage collaboration in various ways.

MyBRCGS is a member only area of our website available to all certification bodies. Here you’ll find various guidelines which should form part of your Quality Procedures manual, and the latest calibration webinars and training materials.

We actively encourage certification bodies to participate in Cooperation Groups to share best practice, ensure consistency of approach and provide feedback to BRCGS. Your day-to-day experience of the standards is invaluable to us in identifying areas for future improvement and areas where additional guidance may be required.

All meeting minutes provided by the groups are available on MyBRCGS. Cooperation Groups are currently active in the following countries and regions:

• Australia/New Zealand

• France

• Germany

• Italy

• North America

• Spain

• Sweden

• The Netherlands

• UK

Approved certification bodies can use the BRCGS Certification Body logo on all company communications including letterheads, compliment slips, business cards, marketing collateral, advertising, exhibition graphics, electronic media and company vehicles.

The logos are available for download from MyBRCGS.

For a company to be issued a certificate against any BRCGS standard they must be audited against the standard requirements by an approved auditor. All auditors must work for a certification body.

Once the audit is complete, the auditor will write a full audit report. This report and the action taken by the company to correct identified non-conformities will be reviewed by an independent individual or panel of the certification body and certification approved or declined.

All auditors must work for a certification body, which may be on an employed or contracted basis. An independent auditor cannot issue a BRCGS audit certificate.

The certification body is responsible for ensuring that the auditor fulfils the specified competency requirements, is registered with BRCGS, and that skills and knowledge of all registered auditors are maintained.