Responsibilities and Good practices for certification bodies (registrars)

Reputable ISO 9000 registrars are accredited by international accredi-
tation bodies. These enforce a standard, EN 45012 (European Stan-
dard for Bodies Certificating Suppliers’ Quality Systems), that
governs the processes that registrars follow. This standard is quite
strict:


Registrars must make their services available to all qualified sup-
pliers without imposing undue financial or other conditions, and
must administer their regulations in a nondiscriminatory manner.

The registrar’s organization must not engage in activities that may
affect its impartiality. For example:

— It must not provide consulting services “on matters to which
its certificates are related” (i.e., quality systems). This require-
ment is superseded by the ISO 9000 restriction noted earlier.

— It must not directly engage in commerce with firms that it has
assessed and/or registered.

— Individuals involved in the registration process must not have
provided consulting services to registration clients, or any re-
lated firms, within the previous two years.

— Its employees and agents must not engage in business activities
that would cause others to question the firm’s impartiality.

— The registrar may not market consultancy and registration
services together, and may not recommend consulting services
to clients.

— Auditors may not give advice as part of registration audits.

— The registrar must provide the accreditation body with docu-
mentation of its employees’ qualifications.

— The registrar must have appropriate facilities for carrying out
its activities.

— The registrar must have a quality manual and documented
procedures. (Curiously, EN 45012 does not require that regis-
trars register to ISO 9000!)

— Registrars may not grant or renew certificates of registration
until all major noncompliances are eliminated.


Another point of differentiation is scope of accreditation. All regis-
trars are not accredited, or approved, to register firms in any line of
business. Each registrar is accredited to operate within the business or
industrial sectors about which it has documented expertise. This is
generically referred to as the registrar’s scope.

For information on the other ways that registrars vary and guid-
ance on how to select the best registrar for your needs, see Question 93.

8. What is the cost of registering to ISO 9000?
This was the question you turned to first, right? One fairly prominent
consultant likes to answer that question this way: “Less than a mil-
lion.”

Kidding aside, there is only one short, definitive answer that ap-
plies to all: It depends. There are two kinds of costs to figure here:
1. The cost of implementing the system.
2. The costs to engage the registration body not only for the registra-
tion audit itself, but also for associated activities: pre-assessment,
surveillance assessments (Question 94).
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