Definition(s)


Third-party Certification Audit

audit carried out by an auditing organization independent of the client and the user, for the purpose of certifying the client’s management system

NOTE 1 In the definitions which follow, the term “audit” has been used for simplicity to refer to third-party certification audit.

NOTE 2 Third-party certification audits include initial, surveillance, re-certification audits, and can also include special audits.

NOTE 3 Third-party certification audits are typically conducted by audit teams of those bodies providing certification of conformity to the requirements of management system standards.

NOTE 4 A joint audit is when two or more auditing organizations cooperate to audit a single client.

NOTE 5 A combined audit is when a client is being audited against the requirements of two or more management systems standards together.

NOTE 6 An integrated audit is when a client has integrated the application of requirements of two or more

management systems standards into a single management system and is being audited against more than one standard.

Source: ISO/IEC 17021:2011 (E) – Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems . Global Standards

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