ISO/IEC 17029:2019 Conformity assessment – General principles and requirements for validation and verification bodies, was published on 30th October 2019.
This Technical Bulletin provides an update regarding the status of this new conformity assessment standard (CAS) and outlines UKAS’s activities towards implementation.
Within the European cooperation for Accreditation (EA) and International Accreditation Forum (IAF) mutual recognition arrangement structures, ISO/IEC 17029 will be recognised as a Level 3 standard. This will provide the new standard with equivalent recognition to existing conformity assessment standards such as ISO/IEC 17021-1 and ISO/IEC 17065.
At its annual General Assembly in October 2019, the IAF issued two resolutions related to ISO/IEC 17029: –
IAF Resolution 2019-14 – Endorsement of ISO/IEC 17029:2019 as a Normative Document
The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the Technical Committee, resolved to endorse ISO/IEC 17029:2019, when published as an IAF normative document.
IAF Resolution 2019-25 – IAF MLA Scope Extension to ISO/IEC 17029
The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the Executive Committee, endorsed the extension of the IAF MLA under the IAF Level 2 Validation and Verification to ISO/IEC 17029 as new IAF MLA Level 3 standard in accordance to IAF PL3 Policies and Procedures for the Expansion of the Scope of the IAF MLA.
The standard states that “This document is applicable to validation/verification bodies in any sector, providing confirmation that claims are either plausible with regards to the intended future use (validation) or truthfully stated (verification). However, results of other conformity assessment activities (e.g. testing, inspection and certification) are not considered to be subject to validation/verification according to this document. Neither are situations where validation/verification activities are performed as steps within another conformity assessment process. This document is applicable to any sector, in conjunction with sector specific programmes that contain requirements for validation/verification processes and procedures.”
In particular the new standard will have an impact on activities for greenhouse gas validation under ISO 14065, although any changes brought about by the implementation of ISO/IEC 17029 will not be immediate and are being implemented by IAF in a controlled manner (for further details refer to the UKAS Technical Bulletin on ISO 14065 (Greenhouse Gas Verification) and Related Standards).
UKAS has initiated a project to develop an accreditation programme for this new CAS in readiness for any schemes falling within its scope. Please note that the scope of this standard is wider than just emissions verifications – the main area at the moment where accredited validation and verification activities take place. Therefore UKAS would be very interested in discussing any potential schemes for which accreditation to the new CAS can be considered, and interested conformity assessment bodies and scheme owners are encouraged to contact UKAS so that we can draw a clear picture of the initial interest and potential take-up of ISO/IEC 17029.
Should you require any clarification on the subject covered by this bulletin, please contact; Janet Gascoigne, Development Manager – [email protected] or Kevin Belson, Technical Manager – [email protected]
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