1. Presentation on the new standard
ISO/IEC 17024: 2012
Conformity assessment – General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons
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2. Introduction
This presentation has been developed by the Convenor of ISO CASCO WG 30. The aim is to support all interested parties concerned by the implementation of this new standard, ISO/IEC Conformity assessment – General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons. This is an open presentation without any copyrights and can be used by anyone. ISO CASCO Secretary ISO CASCO Convenor WG 30 Sean MacCurtain Dr. Cynthia D. Woodley
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3. Purpose of ISO/IEC 17024
Standard for Certification of Persons Official Title – General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons Introduction – “. . . Has been developed with the objective of achieving and promoting a globally accepted benchmark for organizations operating certification of persons” Introduction – “. . .This international standard can serve as the basis for the recognition of the certification bodies for persons and the certification schemes under which persons are certified, in order to facilitate their acceptance at the national and international levels.”
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4. WG30 – Revision of ISO/IEC 17024
ISO/IEC originally published in Due for systematic review in 2008 (usually every 5 years). ISO member bodies voted down ISO/IEC for systematic review. ANSI introduced a New Work Item proposal to completely revise ISO/IEC October 2008 member bodies voted in favour of the New Work Item proposal to revise ISO/IEC Based on New Work Item, a working group (WG30) was formed to revise ISO/IEC
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5. Timeline of Revision ISO/IEC 17024
Activity
Date(s)
Output
Participants
Results ballot
1st WG30 meeting-terms of reference, scope and structure
9-10 February 2009 16
2nd WG30 meeting
22-24 July 2009
WD1 17
3rd meeting (DG meeting)
28-29 September 2009
WD2 5
4th WG30 meeting
22-24 February 2010 22
5th WG30 meeting
22-24 June 2010
CD1
6th WG30 meeting
18-20 January 2011
DIS 18
7th meeting (DG meeting)
26-27 September 2011 12
8th WG30 meeting
5-6 December 2011
FDIS 19
FDIS out for ballot
1 March 2012
95% approval of ISO P-members and 97% of IEC P-members
Standard Published
1 July 2012
Published
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6. Goals of the Revision
Repair/rewrite areas of the standard that needed clarification or had been confusing. Incorporate all appropriate guidance from the IAF Guidance Document (GD24) into the standard. Add additional clauses in some areas. Make the standard “look” like the other ISO standards (use standard ISO/CASCO format).
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7. Most Problematic Areas of 17024 as Reported on a Survey of ABs and CBs conducted by IAF*:
ABs reported:
Development and Maintenance of a Certification Scheme
Surveillance
Evaluation
Organizational Structure
CBs reported:
Other (write in)
*Reported as results from IAF survey of ABs conducted in 2009
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8. Major Discussion Issues for WG30
What to do about schemes not owned by CB:
Government owned
Third party owned
Surveillance
Not really being followed
Not always needed depending upon the recertification period
Separation of Training/Certification Functions
How far is that separation?
Can a training organization be a CB for persons?
Can trainers serve in any role in the certification program?
Can a trainer be an evaluator?
Can a CB require candidates to complete their training program?
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9. Major Issues for WG30 Impartiality How assured?
Is an Impartiality Committee required?
Or can impartiality be demonstrated some other way?
Measurement rigor
How much science of measurement should be added to the standard?
How much documentation is needed in the development of the scheme?
Level of detail
What is the appropriate balance between being too prescriptive and providing enough information to help those who do not understand the science of measurement?
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10. Major Issues for WG30
Scheme -What are the mandatory components of a scheme versus what are process requirements associated with the implementation of a scheme?
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11. Major Sections in the New Revision
1. Scope
2. Normative references
3. Terms and definitions
4. General requirements
5. Structural requirements
6. Resource requirements
7. Records and information requirements
8. Certification schemes
9. Certification process requirements
10. Management systems requirements
Annex A - Principles
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12. Major Changes in the New Revision
Change: Refer to the “Certification of Persons” instead of “Personnel Certification” and “Certification Body for Persons (CBP)” instead of “Personnel Certification Body (PCB)”.
Reason: “Personnel” is defined and translated as employee so Personnel Certification and Personnel Certification body were interpreted as certification of one’s own employees. This is not correct. New term Certification of Persons and Certification Body for Persons is so everybody will understand that this is certification of people (not employees).
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13. Major Changes in the New Revision
Change: Added new terms for Certification Requirements, Scheme Owner, Certificate, Assessment, Invigilator, Personnel, Applicant, Impartiality, Fairness, Validity, Reliability, Interested Party and Surveillance.
Reason: Several of these terms were misunderstood or confusing to readers of the standard and needed to be defined.
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14. Major Changes in the New Revision
Change: Added a more detailed section for Management of Impartiality (4.3). Impartiality may be achieved through the use of an Impartiality Committee or through other methods.
Reason: Impartiality and objectivity are the cornerstones for the certification of persons. If the process for verifying the competence of persons and certifying the competence of persons is not impartial and objective then there is no value to the certification of persons.
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15. Major Changes in the New Revision
Change: Added a new section with more information about the Structure of the Certification Body in Relation to Training (5.2).
Reason: Training is a threat to impartiality (5.2.3). Therefore the Certification Body for Persons must demonstrate the independence of the certification activities from training activities to ensure the confidentiality, information security and impartiality of the certification activities are not compromised (5.2.3.b).
A trainer may not serve as an examiner of a specific candidate they have trained for a period of 2 years (5.2.3.e) unless the CB can demonstrate how it does not compromise impartiality.
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16. Major Changes in the New Revision
Change: Added more detail to section for personnel:
-General Personnel Requirements (6.1) Clauses pertaining to competence, training and signing of conflict of interest and confidentiality agreements added.
-Requirements for Examiners (6.2.2) Clauses pertaining to competence, impartiality, and declaration of conflicts of interest added.
-Requirements for other personnel involved in the assessment (6.2.3) (new section added) Added requirements for invigilators and examination administrators.
-Outsourcing (6.3) Includes contracted and subcontracted services. Note that Personnel definition (3.12) includes individuals internal or external who carry out activities for the certification body.
Reason: The competence of personnel is important to ensure that certification activities are carried out correctly and impartially.
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17. Major Changes in the New Revision
Change: More detail added for Records and Information Requirements:
Applicant, Candidate and Certified Persons records (7.1) – describes what persons records must be stored.
Public Information (7.2) – describes information that must be available both with request and without request.
Confidentiality (7.3) – provides clauses relating to confidential data including candidate data and examination data.
Reason: A certification body for person must carefully balance information that should be available to the public with and without request and information that must be kept confidential.
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18. Major Changes in the New Revision
Change: New detailed section pertaining to security (7.4).Includes clauses pertaining to the security of confidential candidate data (personal information, etc.), and clauses pertaining to the security of examination data (test questions, answers, exam papers, etc.). Requires the CB to develop security polices and procedures that includes consideration of the location of the materials (transport, storage, exam centres, destruction, digital, etc.), the nature of the materials (electronic, paper, test equipment, etc.), and the steps in the life cycle of examinations (development, administration, results reporting, etc.)
Reason: The release of some confidential information (such as examination information) could result in the invalidation of the entire certification program. It is important that all confidential and secure information is kept confidential. Many CBs are unaware of the security threats associated with their certification programs.
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19. Major Changes in the New Revision
Change: More detailed description of certification schemes. Now recognizes an external scheme owner. Provides clauses detailing the requirements for the contents of a scheme (8.2), detailed clauses for certification requirements that must be in a scheme (8.3), and detailed requirements for the development and review of the certification scheme (8.4). The requirement for a Job Task Analysis is now included in the standard (8.4). Surveillance is now “if applicable” as based on the scheme. Requires that the scheme be reviewed and validated on an ongoing, systematic basis.
Reason: Development of the scheme was cited as one of the problematic areas in the survey of ABs and CBs. The new standard provides additional information to clarify scheme requirements.
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20. Major Changes in the New Revision
Change: More detail provided for the Certification Process Requirements (9) including the application process (9.1), assessment process (9.2), examination process (9.3), decision on certification (9.4), suspending, withdrawing or reducing the scope of certification (9.5), recertification process (9.6) and the use of certificates, logos and marks (9.7).
Reason: IAF survey showed confusion for many of these processes. Additional detail was required to help make the clauses and requirements clear.
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21. Major Changes in the New Revision
Change: New appeals section (9.8), new complaints section (9.9), and new management systems requirements section (10).
Reason: Required PAS documents.
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22. Major Changes in the New Revision
The mandatory PAS documents were incorporated into the revised standard:
1. ISO/PAS on Impartiality included in clause 4.3
2. ISO/PAS on Confidentiality included in clause 7.3
3. ISO/PAS on Complaints and appeals included in clauses 9.8 and 9.9
4. ISO/PAS on Disclosure of information included in clause 7.2
5. ISO/PAS on Use of management systems included in clause 10
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23. Major Changes in the New Revision
Change: Principles section added in Annex A. Includes principles associated with impartiality, competence, confidentiality and openness, responsiveness to complaints and appeals, and responsibility.
Reason: The revised standard cannot give specific requirements for all situations that can occur. The principles are designed to be applied as guidance for unanticipated situations. The principles serve as the framework for the entire standard.
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24. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
Introduction
Same
1. Scope
New note added regarding reference to Certification Body in this standard refers to Certification Body for Persons (CBP).
2 Normative references
2 Normative references
Changed normative references.
3 Terms and definitions
Changed normative documents for terms
3.1 appeal
3.19 appeal
3.2 candidate
3.14 candidate
Slightly reworded
3.3 certification process
3.1 certification process
3.4 certification scheme
3.2 certification scheme
3.5 certification system
Deleted and combined with Certification Process
3.6 competence
Reworded
3.7 complaint
3.20 complaint
3.8 evaluation
Deleted and removed from the standard (replaced with “assessment”)
3.9 examination
3.10 examiner
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25. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
3.11 qualification
3.7 qualification
Slightly reworded
3.3 certification requirements
New definition
3.4 scheme owner
3.5 certificate
3.8 assessment
3.11 invigilator
3.12 personnel
3.13 applicant
3.15 impartiality
3.16 fairness
3.17 validity
3.18 reliability
3.21 interested party
3.22 surveillance
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26. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
4 Requirements for certification bodies
Deleted
4.1 Certification body
4.1.1.
Clause deleted
4.1.2
4.1.3
9.4.3
Slightly reworded
5 Structural requirements
New section
4.2Organizational structure
5.1 Management and organization structure
4.2.1
5.1.1
4.2.1.a)
Clause deleted (added impartiality section)
4.2.1 b)
4.2
4.2.1 c)
5.1.2
Reworded and additional parties to be identified added.
4.2.1 d)
4 General requirements
4.1 Legal matters
Reworded
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27. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
4.2.2
4.3 Management of impartiality
4.3.1
Reworded
4.2.3
Deleted. New section on development and maintenance of a scheme was added. CB does not have to appoint a scheme committee. Scheme owner can be outside of the CB.
4.2.4 a)
4.4
Slightly reworded
4.2.4 b)
Covered under new section on impartiality (4.3)
42.4 c)
4.3.2
New clause
4.3.3
4.3.5
4.3.6
4.3.7
4.3.8
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28. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
4.2.5
5.2
New section covers old clause and adds additional requirements
5.2.2
New clause
5.2.3 a)
5.2.3 b)
5.2.3 c)
5.2.3 d)
5.2.3 e)
4.2.6
Entire sections for appeals and complaints added (see sections 9.8 and 9.9)
4.2.7
See new section on personnel (6.1)
4.3 Development and maintenance of a certification scheme
See new section for certification schemes (8)
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29. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
4.3.1
See new section for certification schemes (8)
4.3.2
4.3.3
9.2.2
Reworded and placed in new section on assessment (9.2)
4.3.4
Deleted clause
4.3.5
5.2.1
Split into two sections (Impartiality 4.3 and Structure of the certification body in relation to training 5.2)
4.3.6
9.3.5
Moved to a new section on examination process
4.4 Management system
4.4.1
4.4.2
4.4.3
All of Section 10
All of Management System moved to a new section 10.
4.5 Subcontracting
6.3 Outsourcing
Changed subcontracting to outsourcing
4.5.1
6.3.1
9.4.2
Reworded and put into 2 clauses
4.5.2
6.3.2
Reworded
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30. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
4.6 Records
7 Records and information requirements
4.6.1
7.1.1
Same
4.6.2
7.1.2
4.7 Confidentiality
7.1.3
Reworded and entire new section on Confidentiality added (7.3)
7.2 Public Information
New section
7.2.1
New clause
7.2.2
7.2.3
7.2.4
7.3 Confidentiality
New section for confidentiality added
7.3.1
7.3.2
7.3.3
7.3.4
7.3.5
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31. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
4.8 Security
7.4 Security
New Section for security added
7.4.1
New clause
7.4.2
7.4.3
6. Resource Requirements
New section for resource requirements added
5 Requirements for persons employed or contracted by a certification body
5.1 General
6.1 General personnel requirements
6.1.1
6.1.2
5.1.1
6.1.3
Slightly reworded
5.1.2
6.1.7
Reworded
5.1.3
6.1.4
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32. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
5.1.4
6.1.5
Reworded
6.1.6
New clause
6.1.8
6.2 Personnel involved in the certification activities
New section for personnel added
6.2.1 General
5.2 Requirements for examiners
6.2.2 Requirements for examiners
5.2.1
5.2.2
6.2.3 Outsourcing
New section for outsourcing added
6.4 Other Resources
8 Certification Schemes
New section for certification schemes added
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
New clause that allows a scheme owner to be a body other than the certification body for persons
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33. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
6 Certification process
9 Certification Process Requirements
6.1 Application
9.1 Application Process
6.1.1
9.1.1
Reworded
6.1.2
9.1.2
9.1.3
New clause
9.2 Assessment Process
New section for assessment process added
9.2.1
9.2.2
see 2003 version, clause 4.3.3
6.2 Evaluation
Section deleted
6.2.1
Clause deleted
B) covered by new clause 9.2.5
6.2.2
9.3.1
Reworded. Added language to address equating of exam forms and comparability of the pass/fail decision.
6.2.3
9.2.3
Slightly reworded
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34. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
6.2.4
Clause deleted
9.2.4
New clause
9.2.5
9.2.6
9.3 Examination process
New section for examination process added
9.3.2
New clause to address exam administration standardization
9.3.3
9.3.4
9.3.5
Reworded from 2003 version clause 4.3.6
6.3 Decision on certification
9.4 Decision on certification
9.4.1
9.4.2
Reworded from 2003 versions clause 4.5.1
9.4.3
Reworded from 2003 version clause 4.1.3
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35. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
6.3.1
9.4.4
9.4.5
New clause
9.4.6
6.3.2
9.4.7
6.3.3
9.4.8
Slightly reworded
9.4.9
6.4 Surveillance
Section deleted
6.4.1
Clause deleted
6.4.2
9.5 Suspending, withdrawing or reducing the scope of certification
New section
9.5.1
9.5.2
9.5.3
9.5.4
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36. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
6.5 Recertification
9.6 Recertification Process
6.5.1
Clause deleted
6.5.2
9.6.1
9.6.2
9.6.4
Reworded and split into three clauses
9.6.3
New clause
9.6.5
6.6 Use of certificates and logos/marks
9.7 Use of certificates, logos and marks
6.6.1
9.7.1
Same
6.6.2
9.7.2
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37. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
6.6.3
9.7.3
Reworded
9.8 Appeals against decisions on certification
New Section for appeals
9.8.1
New clause
9.8.2
9.8.3
9.8.4
9.8.5
9.8.6
9.8.7
9.9 Complaints
New section for complaints
9.9.1
9.9.2
9.9.3
9.9.4
9.9.5
9.9.6
9.9.7
9.9.8
9.9.9
9.9.10
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38. Differences/Comments
Cross Reference 17024:2003 to 17024: 2012
ISO/EC
ISO/IEC
Differences/Comments
10 Management system requirements
New section for management systems
10.1
New clause
10.2
New section
10.2.1
10.2.2
10.2.3
10.2.4
10.2.5
10.2.6
10.2.7
10.2.8
Annex A – Principles
New Appendix (Principles)
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