Key takeaways
- 1Accreditation is only useful if it is public.
- 2Start with the accreditation body named on the certificate.
- 3An entry has three documents behind it, and they do different jobs.
Every national accreditation body publishes the bodies it has accredited, with the scope of each. That register is the one place where a certification body's claim to be accredited can be checked against someone else's record. This is how to read it, using our own entry as the worked example.
Why the register exists
Accreditation is only useful if it is public. ISO/IEC 17021-1 clause 4.5 sets openness as a principle of certification, and clause 8.1.1 requires a certification body to make information about its certification activities publicly accessible. The accreditation body does the same for the bodies it accredits. The result is a record maintained by a party with no stake in whether any particular certificate is accepted — which is precisely what makes it worth reading.
Finding the body
Start with the accreditation body named on the certificate. In Egypt that is EGAC, the Egyptian Accreditation Council. Its register lists conformity assessment bodies by category — management system certification bodies among them — and by accreditation number.
Search by the number on the certificate. For CAS that is CAB #012418. A search by name works too, but numbers do not have spelling variants.
If the number returns nothing, stop there. Either the number is wrong, the body is not accredited by that accreditation body, or the accreditation has lapsed. Any of the three is an answer.
Reading the entry
An entry has three documents behind it, and they do different jobs.
The accreditation certificate. It says the body is accredited, against which standard — ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 for management system certification — and for what period. Ours is certificate 012418A, valid to 27 November 2029.
The schedule of accreditation. This is the document that matters. It lists the schemes the body is accredited to certify — ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and so on — and, for each, the technical sectors it may certify in. Ours is schedule 012418B. A body can hold a valid accreditation certificate and not be accredited for the scheme on the certificate in front of you; only the schedule settles that.
The status. Accreditations can be suspended, reduced or withdrawn. The register shows the current status, and the current status is the only one that counts.
The two checks that answer the question
Is the scheme in the schedule? Find the standard on the certificate you are holding — say ISO 22000 — in the schedule. If it is not there, the certificate is not an accredited certificate for that standard, whatever else the body is accredited for.
Is the sector in the schedule? Schedules for management system certification are organized by technical sector — IAF codes for most schemes, food chain categories for ISO 22000. A body accredited for ISO 9001 in some sectors is not accredited for all of them. Match the certified organization's activity to the sector list.
Two yeses mean the certificate can be accredited. They do not yet mean it is genuine; that is the next register.
The next register
The accreditation body's register tells you about the body. It does not list individual certificates. For those, go to IAF CertSearch — the International Accreditation Forum's global database, searchable by the certified organization's name — and to the certification body's own verification page. Ours is cas.com.eg/certsearch.
Three registers, three questions: is the body accredited, for this scheme and sector; does this certificate exist; what is its status today.
What CAS's entry reads
For completeness, because we are the example: EGAC, CAB #012418, accredited under ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015; certificate 012418A; schedule 012418B; valid to 27 November 2029; schemes ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 22000, ISO 50001 and ISO 22301. Five of those fall within EGAC's IAF MLA scope; ISO 22301 is EGAC-accredited and sits outside it. Every one of those facts is on EGAC's register, and none of them is something we could publish about ourselves without the register to back it.
What this means for you
If you are a buyer: search the number, open the schedule, match the scheme and the sector. Three minutes, and it is the part of due diligence nobody can fake.
If you are certified: know your certification body's accreditation number and where its schedule is. You will be asked.
If you are choosing a body: ask for the schedule of accreditation, not the certificate. The schedule is where the scope lives.
CAS — An EGAC accredited MS certification body No. 012418. Accredited scope: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 22000, ISO 50001 and ISO 22301. Certificates accredited for ISO 9001, 14001, 45001, 22000 and 50001 fall within EGAC's IAF MLA scope; ISO 22301 is accredited by EGAC and sits outside that scope.
Verify any certificate: cas.com.eg/certsearch
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