Insights
Written by the certification body
Reference articles on accreditation, the certification path and what the standards actually require. CAS does not provide consultancy, so these explain the requirements — they do not design your management system.
All articles
How to tell whether your product needs a notified body or a certificateTwo sources decide this. The product's EU legislation decides whether a notified body is needed. The buyer decides whether a management system certificate is needed.20 October 2026 · 3 min read
Voluntary certification vs EU regulated sectors: where the line fallsAn accredited ISO certificate answers a buyer's question about how your organization is run.19 October 2026 · 5 min read
ISO 9001:2026 is published: the transition dates that matterISO 9001:2026, the sixth edition, was published in September 2026. It cancels and replaces ISO 9001:2015 including Amendment 1:2024.9 October 2026 · 3 min read
The declaration an auditor signs before every assignmentImpartiality is managed one assignment at a time. Before an auditor is assigned to a client, and before a decision-maker reviews the file, each of them answers the same questions.8 October 2026 · 2 min read
Auditors do not audit their own workSix words, in ISO/IEC 17021-1 §10.2.6.4 b), governing what a certification body shall ensure about its own internal audits.7 October 2026 · 3 min read
How long is an ISO certificate valid, and how is it renewed?
How long is an ISO certificate valid, and how is it renewed?An accredited ISO certificate runs on a three-year cycle: surveillance audits in the first and second years after the certification decision, a recertification audit before it expires. What keeps it valid, and what ends it early.7 October 2026 · 4 min read
Types of accredited ISO certificates: which one does your organisation need?
Types of accredited ISO certificates: which one does your organisation need?CAS's EGAC accreditation covers six ISO management system standards. Each answers a different question: quality, environment, health and safety, food safety, energy, business continuity.7 October 2026 · 4 min read
Halal certification in Egypt: who issues the certificate, what it covers and how long it lasts
Halal certification in Egypt: who issues the certificate, what it covers and how long it lastsThe Halal certificate is issued by Global Halal Control Office (GHC); CAS, GHC's exclusive Egypt partner, conducts the audit. It is valid for 12 months and sits outside the EGAC accredited scope.6 October 2026 · 4 min read
The audit with no audit planISO/IEC 17021-1 requires an audit plan for the audits in a certification cycle. Stage 1 is the exception, and the exemption is one line:6 October 2026 · 3 min read
The register describes today. The certificate is a claim about the day it was printed.Every register you can search is a snapshot of the present. Every certificate you can hold is a statement about a moment in the past.5 October 2026 · 4 min read
The two lists a certification body keeps, and what each one is forA certification body maintains two lists of schemes. They have different authors, different completeness rules and different silences.4 October 2026 · 4 min read
What "recognised" means — and what it does not oblige anyone to doMutual recognition is the most over-read word in certification marketing.3 October 2026 · 3 min read
Opportunities: the half of clause 6.1 that goes missingOpen a typical ISO 9001 risk register and count the opportunities. In most, the answer is zero.2 October 2026 · 3 min read
When a certification body should say noA certification body that has never declined an application is not being generous. It is not doing application review.1 October 2026 · 4 min read
A certificate did not check out. Now what?The search returns nothing. Before drawing a conclusion, it is worth knowing that "not found" has at least five explanations, and only one of them is fraud.30 September 2026 · 3 min read
What we can answer, and what we have to declineThe rule is easy to state and harder to picture. So here is the boundary as it actually appears in conversation — real question shapes, and where each one falls.29 September 2026 · 3 min read
"We need certification" — the four different things a buyer might meanAn export enquiry arrives. The buyer needs certification before the first order ships. The deadline is short.28 September 2026 · 3 min read
The thread ISO 9001 expects you to be able to followPick any objective in a certified quality management system and ask what it responds to.27 September 2026 · 3 min read
How audit days are calculated under Global ACI TECH-3-004 (formerly IAF MD 5)Ask three certification bodies how many days your audit will take and you may get three different answers.26 September 2026 · 3 min read
What the accreditation number on a certificate actually tells youMost people look at an ISO certificate and read the standard, the company name, and the dates.25 September 2026 · 4 min read
How long does ISO certification take? The stages, step by step
How long does ISO certification take? The stages, step by stepFrom application to certificate usually takes three to six months with CAS. The two audit stages are short; the time in between is where it varies.24 September 2026 · 3 min read
Reading a food certificate file: the questions that sort it outMost supplier files for food products arrive with more than one certificate in them. The receiving side usually has one person and one afternoon.24 September 2026 · 2 min read
What actually determines the cost of ISO certification
What actually determines the cost of ISO certificationThe price of an accredited ISO certificate follows the audit time, and the audit time follows published rules — not a sales conversation.24 September 2026 · 4 min read
What a schedule of accreditation actually listsThe schedule is the least-read document in certification and the one that decides the most. This is what is on it, line by line.23 September 2026 · 2 min read
The two items most often found incomplete at stage 1Stage 1 has a checklist, and two items on it come back as areas of concern more than all the others combined.22 September 2026 · 2 min read
Management review minutes: what an auditor is actually looking forMinutes are the evidence of a management review. This is how they are read at an audit, and what makes them sufficient.21 September 2026 · 2 min read
Amendment, revision, transition: three words that are not interchangeableAsk when the deadline is for a change to a standard, and the answer depends on which of three things has actually happened.20 September 2026 · 3 min read
Reading a transition requirements documentWhen a management system standard gets a new edition, the dates that matter for certificates are not in the standard itself.19 September 2026 · 2 min read
Two dates on one certificate: printed expiry and transition endAn ISO 9001:2015 certificate issued this year carries a printed expiry date up to three years away.18 September 2026 · 2 min read
IAF and ILAC are now Global ACI: what it means for CAS certificates
IAF and ILAC are now Global ACI: what it means for CAS certificatesSince 1 January 2026, IAF and ILAC work as one organisation, the Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated. What stays the same for CAS certificates, and what changes later.16 September 2026 · 4 min read
ISO 9001 §9.3 management review: the required inputsManagement review is the clause most often held with the wrong agenda. ISO 9001:2015 clause 9.3.2 lists what the review shall be planned and carried out taking into consideration.14 September 2026 · 4 min read
The gap between Stage 1 and Stage 2: why it exists and how long it runsInitial certification is a two-stage audit, and the interval between the stages is not dead time. It is where stage 1 does its work.13 September 2026 · 4 min read
How to search an accreditation body's public registerEvery national accreditation body publishes the bodies it has accredited, with the scope of each.12 September 2026 · 4 min read
How impartiality risk is managed in practiceA certification body is paid by the organizations it certifies.11 September 2026 · 5 min read
ISO 14001:2026 is published: the transition dates that matterISO 14001:2026 was published in April 2026. It replaces ISO 14001:2015 including Amendment 1:2024.10 September 2026 · 3 min read
Kosher and food safety certification: two different questionsA kosher certificate answers a religious question. An ISO 22000 certificate answers a management question. A buyer who asks for one and receives the other has not been answered.9 September 2026 · 5 min read
A programme shaped by its inputs leaves a trailThere is a requirement about internal audit programmes that we can show you in full, because it is the one we are audited against.4 September 2026 · 5 min read
The accreditation number checked out. That is not the same as the certificate being real.In week one we published a sentence we still stand behind: a genuine accredited certificate appears in all three registers, and a fabricated one…4 September 2026 · 5 min read
Accredited vs non-accredited ISO certificates: the difference in one lineAn accredited certificate leaves a trace in a public register. A non-accredited one leaves nothing.4 September 2026 · 6 min read
Application review: what a certification body asks for, and whyMost organizations experience application review as a form. It is a gate.4 September 2026 · 5 min read
The full granting path: from application to decision, in one mapCertification is not an inspection followed by a certificate. It is a defined sequence with named stages, an independent decision point, and a…4 September 2026 · 5 min read
ISO 9001 clause 4.1, in plain languageClause 4.1 requires no document. That single fact explains most of what goes wrong with it.4 September 2026 · 5 min read
ISO 9001 clause 6.1: risk-based thinking is not a risk registerClause 6.1 requires no risk register. It requires no methodology, no matrix, no scoring, and no documented information at all.4 September 2026 · 5 min read
The climate change amendments: what was actually addedIn February 2024 ISO published amendments to a large number of management system standards, including all six within our accredited scope. The change…4 September 2026 · 4 min read
Kosher certification and access to export marketsA food manufacturer with ISO 22000 certification and a clean audit history can still be turned away by a buyer in New York, London or Toronto. Not…4 September 2026 · 4 min read
What a certification body's advertising can tell you — and what it cannotFrom August 2026 our marketing covers seven things: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 22000, ISO 50001, ISO 22301, and Kosher certification.4 September 2026 · 5 min read
Two of Stage 1's seven objectives are not about youIn week two we wrote that Stage 1 is an audit with defined outputs rather than an introductory visit, and listed what it examines. That list was…4 September 2026 · 4 min read
Three steps to verify any ISO certificate before accepting a supplierA supplier sends you a certificate. You have three minutes and no specialist knowledge. Here is exactly what to do with them.4 September 2026 · 4 min read
Your European client asked for an "accredited certificate". What do they mean?The request arrives in one line and could mean either of two things that have almost nothing in common. Answering the wrong one wastes months.4 September 2026 · 4 min read
Why CAS does not provide consultancyWe are asked this most weeks, and usually with an edge of disbelief. You audit management systems. You know exactly what a conforming one looks like.…4 September 2026 · 6 min read