WOOD WISE
Understanding accreditation and product certification
By Abe Stears
Accreditation and product certification are topics which cause confusion in the South African manufacturing industry . In the next few issues , I will address these uncertainties to enable manufacturers and the end-users to make informed decisions in the future . If you have any specific questions you are welcome to contact me at stearsa @ satas . co . za
The year 2003 brought about a significant change in the
South African Product Certification industry when a second SANAS Accredited Product Certification Body ( SATAS ) entered the market giving manufacturers the opportunity to make better decisions in choosing their preferred service provider . In October 2020 , the number of SANAS Accredited Product Certification Bodies operating within Southern Africa has increased to eleven , each offering a wide range of SANAS Accredited Certification to specific product standards .
With this change in the product certification industry , a high proportion of the end-users making use of ‘ approved / certified ’ products do not fully understand and still do not understand SANAS Accredited Product Certification .
ABE STEARS
Abe Stears .
For any product certification body to be accepted both nationally and internationally it is essential that the certification body is accredited to the stringent requirements defined in the ISO / IEC 17065:2012 Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies certifying products , processes and services document by an accreditation body duly recognised by the International Accreditation Forum ( IAF ).
In the South African region , the IAF accepted accreditation body responsible for accrediting certification bodies is SANAS ( South African Nation Accreditation System ). Not many end-users are aware of the fact that SANAS is an independent accreditation body reporting directly to the DTI with no affiliation to any other body except the IAF .
For a better understanding of what end-users need to know about SANAS Accredited Product Certification , a simple process flow is set out below . The below process flow defines the steps a product certification body needs to achieve SANAS accreditation and what the accreditation actually means .
APPLICATION FOR SANAS ACCREDITATION
A certification body makes an application to SANAS to be accredited in a specific industrial sector where product certification is sought . These sectors are defined by IEC / IAF as a NACE code which groups a specific range of product standards together . For example , IEC / IAF 17 NACE 24 relates to fabricated metal products which in turn includes a whole range of associated SANS product specifications .
It is essential that the level of technical expertise and competency available within the certification body for the specific NACE code is such that the stringent requirements defined in ISO / IEC 17065 can be demonstrated and maintained .
The certification body is required to implement , maintain and manage a quality management system in accordance with the requirements defined in ISO / IEC 17065:2012 Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies certifying products , processes and services and certify a manufacturer in accordance with the relevant requirements .
Once this process is completed and the certification body is confident all the requirements can be clearly demonstrated the SANAS assessment is performed .
SANAS ACCREDITATION PROCESS
The SANAS assessment team comprises ISO / IEC 17065 quality system auditors tasked to audit the certification body ’ s quality management system with additional technical experts being contracted to assess the auditor ’ s technical competency in the specific NACE sector accreditation is required .
The SANAS assessment team requires a ‘ witness audit ’ to be performed together with the product certification body auditor / s at a manufacturer ’ s facility . This process forms an integral part of the
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