ISO/IEC 17020 (Non-Forensic) Accreditation Process
When looking to obtain ISO/IEC 17020 accreditation for performing inspections, there are various requirements that inspection bodies must conform to prior to accreditation. These requirements are outlined in ISO/IEC 17020, Conformity Assessment — Requirements for the Operation of Various Types of Bodies Performing Inspection and ANAB AR 2252, Accreditation Requirements: ISO/IEC 17020, Inspection Bodies (Non-Forensic). Additionally, ANAB’s general accreditation requirements and surveillance assessment checklists are useful for the inspection body to reference when going through the accreditation or re-accreditation process. These checklists are used by the inspection body and the assessor when performing accreditation and surveillance assessments.
What is the General Accreditation Requirements ISO/IEC 17020 Checklist?
The ANAB General Accreditation Requirements Checklist (CL 2904.01) is outlined in a table that makes it easy for inspection bodies to understand and quickly identify where they are in conformance to the accreditation process and any gaps that may need correction or corrective action.
The first two columns of the table contain the ISO/IEC 17020 requirement clause references, as well as a summarized version of the requirement in question form.
The next column allows the inspection body to enter the document reference where the specific requirement is documented within the management system. This begins the demonstration of conformance to that requirement of the ISO/IEC 17020 standard. This can include listing the document name(s), identification number, version number, paragraph number(s), or equivalent. The next column is for the assessor to document conformance (C), nonconformance (NC), or not applicable (NA). The last column is reserved for any comments on conformance that the assessor may have during the assessment. Comments on conformance are required wherever the standard has a shall statement, but it is good practice to include comments on conformance for all requirements.
Below is an example of the first couple of rows of the table.
Different parts of the checklist are highlighted in gray to differentiate them as part of the Normative Annex A. They are used for the following assessment activities:
- Accreditation Assessment Document Review (AADR)
- Accreditation Assessment (initial) (AA)
- Transfer Reassessment (TRA)
- Reassessment (RA)
What is the Surveillance Assessment Checklist?
The ANAB Surveillance Assessment Checklist (CL 2904.02) is similar to CL 2904.01 in that it tells the assessor which requirements must be assessed during a surveillance assessment of an accredited inspection body. It has a similar layout to CL 2904.01, with the first column indicating the requirement clause number and topic of the requirement. In this checklist, when a row is grayed out, this means that, at a minimum, it will be covered during every surveillance activity.
The next two columns are filled out by the assessor during the surveillance assessment. One column consists of classifying the requirement as conforming (C), nonconforming (NC), or not applicable (NA). The last column is reserved for any comments on conformance.
Below is an example of the surveillance assessment checklist.
Having these checklists in the ISO/IEC 17020 accreditation process is extremely beneficial for documenting conformance to requirements by the inspection body.
Those who are accredited or in the process of becoming accredited can contact ANAB to access these checklists. More documents to help with the accreditation process can be found on the ANAB ISO/IEC 17020 Documents page. For more information, ANAB also offers an online course, Internal Auditing to ISO/IEC 17020, as well as a self-paced course, Overview of ISO/IEC 17020:2012.
