ISO Registration stands for International Organization for Standardization and is an autonomous organization responsible for establishing guidelines for ensuring the safety and efficiency of products and services that are produced.
These guidelines are developed to ensure that companies maintain certain standards when competing with others. When it comes to ISO in India, these certifications help in not just elevate a company’s performance but also improve efficiency.
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ISO Certification in India
ISO creates worldwide agreements published as international standards along with other forms of ISO outputs. As for ISO Registration members, they can be categorized into three types; each has different accessibility and control of the ISO system.
- Full Members – These members have an effect on the development and activities of ISO standards. They attend and actively participate in ISO technical and policy conferences. Further, they promote and execute ISO international standards at a national level.
- Correspondent Members – These members take part in ISO technical and policy conferences, however, only as spectators. They inspect ISO standards as well as the policy evolution. Therefore, they might sell and execute ISO international standards on a large scale.
- Subscriber Members – These members are constantly updated about the current activities of ISO. However, they can’t take part in or even market or implement any of the standards on a large scale.
All the governing rules of ISO and the International Electrotechnical Commission are put together in a collection of ISO/IEC Directives. All of these guidelines, along with other related guidelines and standards, are aimed at maintaining transparency and justice when developing these standards.
Things to do Before the ISO Certification Process in India
There are two major things you need to take care of before you can begin the ISO certification process in India:
Deciding a category for ISO certification
You start from the start and first work on shortlisting the right type of ISO certification for your company or business in India. Depending on the industry and the kind of products/services developed, these certifications will vary.
Here are some of the most popular ISO certifications in India:
| ISO Certification | Category |
| ISO 9001 | Quality Management Systems |
| ISO 14001 | Environmental Management |
| ISO 27001 | Information Security Management |
| ISO 22008 | Food Safety Management |
Selecting an ISO certification body
Fair warning for you – ISO doesn’t give permission or certification easily. Many organizations try to make the most of this fact and start giving out certifications. However, don’t fall into such traps and only get certified by a recognized and reliable certification authority.
Here are some things you should keep in mind when selecting a certification body:
- Analyze different ISO certification service providers.
- Find out whether they’re following the CASCO guidelines. CASCO is an ISO organization responsible for handling accredited certification issues.
- Don’t forget to ascertain that it’s authorized. Even though accreditation is not compulsory, all products should meet the accreditation organizations’ standards.
The ISO Certification Process in India
As you gear up for the ISO certification process in India, you’ll need to follow these steps:
I. Work on your application
The applicant, as well as the registrar, agree on a contract. It clearly states the right and obligations of the two parties and contains liability issues, access rights, and so on.
II. Get documents reviewed
An ISO auditor will review all the quality manuals and documents that you provide, related to the different policies and procedures that the organization is following. Also, reviewing existing work will help the auditor understand or figure out any gaps that might keep you from getting certified so that they can be rectified.
III. Create an action plan
Once you know about the gaps from the ISO auditor, you can work on a plan of action to fix them. List out the tasks that need to be carried out to help you make the required changes in the organization.
You might also need to train your employees so that they’re more efficient and more productive while working with the new procedures.
IV. Initial certification audit
This step can be divided into two stages:
- Stage 1 – After you make the required changes to your organization, the ISO auditor will reassess and try to figure out if there are any non-conformities in your systems and procedures as per the guidelines of the certification you’ve chosen.
You’ll need to then go over those non-conformities and work on aligning them with the required quality standards. This can be achieved by modifying the existing techniques and processes of the organization. - Stage 2 – After all the modifications are done, the ISO auditor does the final round of auditing. The auditor will ensure that all the non-conformities have been taken care of and if they’re not, you’ll be notified again.
But if none are found, the ISO auditor will create the final ISO audit report and then send it to the registrar.
V. Complete the ISO certification process
Once the non-conformities are dealt with and the audit report is sent to the registrar, he/she will then proceed to give you the ISO certification you have applied for.
VI. Surveillance audits
This kind of audit is done to make sure that all the guidelines that come under the ISO certification you’ve been certified for are being followed by your organization. Surveillance audits are conducted from time to time.
Factors that Determine the Cost of Getting ISO Certified
The cost of ISO in India is variable and differs from organization to organization. Several parameters are kept in mind when an ISO certification agency determines the cost of ISO certification for a particular organization:
- The number of employees and processes.
- Risk assessment based on the scope of services of the organization.
- The complexity of the management system.
- The number of working shifts, and so on.
The time it Takes to Get ISO Certified in India
The duration of the entire process also differs from organization to organization. Primarily, it is based on the size of the organization.
| Size of the Organization | The time it Takes to Get ISO Certified |
| Small organizations | 6-8 months |
| Medium organizations | 8-12 months |
| Large organizations | 12-15 months |
On a conclusive note, if you find that the competition is rising and you’re finding it hard to find your place, getting certified can really change the game for you. It’ll help you in establishing authority and getting customers to trust you. This isn’t all. Getting ISO certified has several other advantages which you really shouldn’t miss out on!
About IS Auditr
IS Auditr is a team of experienced ISO and Audit experts. They offer several end-to-end services, provide certifications to businesses and help them enhance their day-to-day operations. If you want to know more about ISO in India, contact us.