Quo vadis, certification vs. ISO/IEC 17050?
Quo vadis, certification vs. ISO/IEC 17050?
Accredited certifications are relevant for many companies in Germany, as they can very often be equated with market access criteria. This regularly means that a customer will demand that their supplier obtains a certification pursuant to ISO 9001. Otherwise, lack of certification might endanger further business development.
Accreditation is regulated on an international level by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA), and the Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle (DAkkS), the German Accreditation Body, in Germany.
A company can obtain a certification on a voluntary basis in order to prove that they have introduced a management system that is functioning well under international standards.
Certification by accredited certification bodies / the so-called conformity assessment bodies (CABs) has become established in the market. However, many companies which obtain certifications are not knowledgeable enough about the difference between conformity assessment bodies (CABs) and non-accredited certification bodies.
In Germany, the accredited certification bodies / the conformity assessment bodies (CABs) are officially authorized by the DAkkS, the German Accreditation Body.
The legal basis thereof is Regulation (EC) No. 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union of 9 July 2008. Under this regulation, solely the DAkkS is entitled to authorize accredited certification bodies / conformity assessment bodies (CABs) in Germany. To this end, this EC regulation was transposed into German national law under the Akkreditierungsstellengesetz (AkkStelleG), the German Accreditation Body Act, and under the Beleihungsverordnung (AkkStelleGBV), the German Ordinance on the Entrustment of the Accreditation Body. On a supplementary basis, the DAkkS is entitled to define further specifications for the implementation of normative requirements.
In addition, the DAkkS has the authority to establish regulations, issue decisions, and publish guidelines as well as official communications.
In international and national comparison, the DAkkS imposes considerably more requirements and additional specifications. This leads to considerably higher effort on the part of conformity assessment bodies (CABs) and companies. Many companies and laboratories have the impression that DAkkS requirements are very likely non-transparent. Companies in Germany are impacted by significantly higher costs and lengthier processing times, which are tantamount to significantly higher effort in international comparison.
The impression of non-transparency was increased, for instance, by the Administrative Court of Berlin’s legally binding judgment, case reference 4 K 377/23, dated February 14, 2025.
An appeal against a fee notice issued by the DAkkS was dismissed, and the reasoning stated, among other things, that the DAkkS did not have to explain or state why a decision or an official act, such as, for instance, the fee notice, had been issued.
The DAkkS has recently come under massive criticism over numerous issues. The German Parliament submitted a “minor interpellation” on “the working methods and the transparency of the DAkkS” in 2024.
Together with the Bundesverband mittelständische Wirtschaft / BVMW e. V. (the German Federal Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises), the Bundesverband der Auditoren / BvdA e. V. (the German Federal Association of Auditors) sent a letter stating their position to the competent German Federal Ministry on June 17, 2025.
On July 10, 2025, a paper stating their position on the DAkkS was published by 35 more associations addressing accreditation practices in Germany and the negative impacts of the working methods of the DAkkS.
Company certification
A certification serves as evidence that the respective company has effectively introduced a management system and that it is meeting the resulting requirements.
A relevant part of obtaining a certification consists of the conformity assessment with the aid of quality audits. Audits help to obtain relevant information and evidence on the processes, functions, and procedures of a management system. Based on such audits, a conformity assessment can be conducted.
The application of ISO 19011 is expedient for performing effective audits. ISO 19011 differentiates based on 1st audits (internal audits), 2nd (supplier audits), and 3rd party audits (by accredited conformity assessment bodies) here.
In Germany, the DAkkS, the respective accredited conformity assessment body (the certification body) hired by the company, and ISO 17021, which also includes requirements relevant for certification auditors, become relevant for 3rd party audits.
The respective company hires a certification body for assessing their management system through a certification audit in order to prove to customers or other interested parties that the company’s management system is effective. After succeeding in the test, the company will then obtain a certificate.
Quo vadis, certification or ISO 17050?
Self-commitment based on ISO 17050 could be a very exciting alternative to the previous certification by a certification body. This option is not yet very well known in the market, though.
Companies which have successfully integrated quality awareness do want to prove this achievement to their customers. It might amount to a kind of barrier to the market entry, though, if a customer demands that their supplier presents a certification as a requirement for further expanding and strengthening existing business development.
Feedback often addresses a scenario in which people engage in small talk and discuss minor issues with certification auditors and the audit is just completed so that they will hold a certificate in their hands “at the end of the day”, which will not specifically benefit the company’s management system in any manner whatsoever even though additional time, effort, and expenses have been incurred in recent years.
A conformity declaration according to ISO/IEC 17050-1 could be an option for exiting this cycle of accredited certifications.
For a conformity declaration pursuant to ISO/IEC 17050-1, company management needs to define and sign a self-declaration or self-commitment, which will significantly reinforce the principle of their personal responsibility.
In doing so, certain characteristics will be guaranteed to customers and interested parties, and the associated status will be obtained by this self-declaration, bearing out the personal responsibility of the company managers.
Therefore, a commitment based on ISO/IEC 17050-1 is of significantly higher value than a certification, since company management shall assume personal responsibility for the characteristics they guarantee personally.
The performance of audits, which need to be conducted by highly experienced auditors, is a fundamental requirement for this procedure. The respective requirements on their skills and capabilities pertain to the company’s internal auditors and – if there are no highly skilled and capable auditors available – also to the hired external auditors.
The Bundesverband der Auditoren e. V. defined an overview of the required skills and capabilities of the auditors as well as criteria for assessing the respective requirements in order to define and confirm the requirements on the skills and capabilities of the auditors.
About PeRoBa:
PeRoBa Unternehmensberatung GmbH (PeRoBa Management Consultancy, LLC) is one of the leading impulse generators in the quality management department on a global scale. Its origins already date back to 1991. The company headquarters have been in Baldham since 2011, and there is also branch in Prinzregentenstraße, Munich. PeRoBa Unternehmensberatung (PeRoBa Management Consultancy) provides high-quality consultations, audits, and evaluations in order to support clients in introducing and implementing their management systems. On top of that, they also offer audits, QM training, seminars, and workshops.
Their innovative in-house software, the iVision® – Smart Remote Audit Solution had been on the market since January 2016 and complements our consulting portfolio.
The company’s founder and owner, Dr. Roland Scherb, PhD is an auditor, consultant, coach, and author. He is chairman of the German Federal Auditors’ Association and an active member of the DIN e.V. working group as well as a lecturer with the TÜV-Academy.
About PeRoBa:
PeRoBa Unternehmensberatung GmbH (PeRoBa Management Consultancy, LLC) is one of the leading impulse generators in the quality management department on a global scale. Its origins already date back to 1991. The company headquarters have been in Baldham since 2011, and there is also branch in Prinzregentenstraße, Munich. PeRoBa Unternehmensberatung (PeRoBa Management Consultancy) provides high-quality consultations, audits, and evaluations in order to support clients in introducing and implementing their management systems. On top of that, they also offer audits, QM training, seminars, and workshops.
Their innovative in-house software, the iVision® – Smart Remote Audit Solution had been on the market since January 2016 and complements our consulting portfolio.
The company’s founder and owner, Dr. Roland Scherb, PhD is an auditor, consultant, coach, and author. He is chairman of the German Federal Auditors’ Association and an active member of the DIN e.V. working group as well as a lecturer with the TÜV-Academy.
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