Terms of use

Use of this website

Content on this site is provided for general information about ISO standards and about how CORE audits and certifies against them. It is not certification advice for your specific circumstances, and nothing on this site forms part of a certification decision. A decision is reached only through the audit process, on the evidence gathered at the audit.

Accuracy and positioning

• CORE audits management systems, issues certificates of registration, and delivers training.
• Accreditation details are pending verification. Until the schedule is confirmed, this site describes CORE's certification process without claiming accredited status.
• CORE does not design, document or implement the systems it certifies, and does not run its clients’ internal audits. Organizations that want that help are referred to independent consultants, and using one has no bearing on the certification decision.
• Sample scenarios and illustrative figures are labelled as such and must not be read as verified results.

Scope of certification

A certificate applies to a defined scope: the activities, products, services and sites named on it, assessed against a named standard. Work outside that scope is not certified. The scope is agreed before the audit, tested during it, and printed on the certificate. Any later change to it is a change of scope, and is assessed before the certificate is amended.

Use of the certificate and any marks

• Reproduce the certificate in full, without alteration, and only while it is current.
• State the standard and the certified scope alongside any reference to certification, so no reader can take it to cover more than it does.
• Do not apply a certification mark to a product, to product packaging, or to a test or inspection report; certification covers the management system, not the product.
• Do not use certification in a way that suggests CORE approves, endorses or carries responsibility for what the certified organization produces.
• Stop using the certificate and any associated mark, and withdraw advertising that refers to them, if certification is suspended or withdrawn or the scope is reduced.

Changes you must tell us about

Certification is a statement about a system that keeps running, so it depends on being told when that system changes. Notify us without undue delay of changes to legal, commercial or ownership status; to senior management or the person responsible for the management system; to the activities, products, services or sites inside the scope; to the system itself where the change is significant; and of any prosecution, enforcement action or serious incident relevant to the certified scope. We then decide whether the change can be verified at the next planned audit or needs assessing sooner.

Suspension and withdrawal

Certification may be suspended where a surveillance or recertification audit does not take place within its due period, where nonconformities are not closed within the time allowed, where certification or a mark is used in a way these terms prohibit, or at the certified organization’s own request. While a certificate is suspended, the organization must not claim to be certified. If the reason for suspension is not resolved within the period we set, certification is withdrawn, or its scope reduced to exclude the part that no longer conforms. Suspended, withdrawn and reduced certificates are recorded, and the certification status of any organization can be confirmed on request.

Appeals and complaints

You can appeal any certification decision, and you can complain about any aspect of the service or about a certified organization. Appeals and complaints are handled by people who were not involved in the decision or the activity they concern, submitting one has no adverse effect on you, and the outcome is confirmed to you in writing. Write to us using the contact details on this site.

Confidentiality

Information obtained during the certification process is treated as confidential and is not released to a third party without written consent, except where accreditation, law or these terms require disclosure — for example the fact and scope of certification, which is public by design. Where we are required by law to release information, we tell you what has been provided unless the law forbids it.

Intellectual property

The CORE name, logo and site content belong to CORE. You may reference and link to this site; you may not reproduce substantial parts of it commercially without permission. Any certification mark remains CORE’s property and is licensed for use only on the terms above, and only while certification is current.

Liability

We keep this site accurate and available with reasonable care, but provide it without warranty. To the extent permitted by law, CORE is not liable for loss arising from reliance on general website content. Audits sample; they do not examine everything, and a certificate is not a warranty that every requirement was met at every moment. Certification services are governed by their own signed agreement.