The benefits of gaining BASEC Certification and International Accreditation
Product and Management System third-party approvals in relation to cable products are well established in the market, and their credibility is underpinned by a strong international system of governance. The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) is at the forefront of this system through its work as a worldwide association of Accreditation Bodies (ABs), whose primary function is to develop a single worldwide program of conformity assessment.
International Accreditation Conformity System displayed below:
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This system ensures the consistency of approach, reducing risk for businesses and their customers by assuring them that accredited certificates and validation and verification statements may be relied upon.
Certificates issued by non-accredited organisations are dependent solely on the standing and credibility of the issuer and may not be accepted by the end user.
It is worth noting that ISO are not part of the governance process, they write the standards but do not govern how they are utilised. Users of certification services are therefore well advised to choose a Certification Body (CB) accredited by an IAF member, of which a list of these can be found here.
When selecting a CB, thought should also be given to its recognition in particular sectors, the knowledge and experience of its staff, and its overall level of service.
Organisations operating in the cable sector primarily choose BASEC, as it has the expertise to not only test, audit and certify cables but also the credibility and accreditations to provide a one stop solution for accessing international markets. The initial and ongoing assessments to gaining BASEC certification is known to be particularly stringent, providing peace of mind to end users that the cable products and quality management processes maintain compliance. Manufacturers require system approval as part of their product approvals, and the starting point is a management system conforming to ISO 9001:15. If this system has been certified by a non-accredited CB, BASEC cannot issue its product approval certificates.
Kieran O’Brien, Certification and Compliance Director at BASEC comments:
“In the case where a non-accredited CB has been used to gain ISO 9001:15, BASEC would treat the system as not certified. A full management system audit would be required from scratch, adding to the costs of product approvals.”
As worldwide experts in the cable testing and certification sector, BASEC provides certification to ISO 9001, continuously auditing cable manufacturers and stockists and can undertake this in parallel with its PCR audits. Certification to ISO 14001 and 45001 with additional benefits for those who have implemented integrated management systems are also available.
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Contact a member of the team to discuss your product approval and management systems requirements further.
