Key takeaways
- 1Under suspension, the certification is temporarily invalid (§9.6.5.3).
- 2Withdrawal follows when a suspension is not resolved in time (§9.6.5.4), and misuse of certification documents or marks can lead to it too (note to §8.3.5).
- 3Expiry is a date, not a decision.
A certificate's status tells you whether you can rely on it today. Each status rests on its own clause of ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 and calls for a different next step. Read it on the certification body's register.
Suspended
Under suspension, the certification is temporarily invalid (§9.6.5.3). Treat the supplier as not certified for now.
The status does not show the reason. §9.6.5.2 gives three examples: a persistent or serious failure to meet certification requirements, audits not allowed at the required frequency, or a suspension the client asked for. The certification body gives the status on request (§8.1.2 b), but other information about a client goes to a third party only with the client's written consent (§8.4.3). Ask the supplier for the reason.
A suspension ends in one of three ways: restored once the issue is resolved, or withdrawn or reduced in scope if it is not resolved in the time the body sets (§9.6.5.4). A note to that clause says most suspensions would not exceed six months. Set a date to check again.
Withdrawn
Withdrawal follows when a suspension is not resolved in time (§9.6.5.4), and misuse of certification documents or marks can lead to it too (note to §8.3.5). The organization must stop using advertising that refers to the certification, as its certification body directs (§8.3.4 d).
For a buyer, a withdrawn certificate supports nothing from the date of the decision. If the supplier says it is certified again, ask for the current certificate and check it as a new one.
Expired
Expiry is a date, not a decision. The certificate shows it, consistent with the recertification cycle (§8.2.2 c), and validity is not extended if recertification work is not completed before it (§9.6.3.2.4).
A certification body can restore an expired certification within six months (§9.6.3.2.5), but the restored certificate's effective date is on or after the recertification decision, so it does not cover the gap. A certificate may keep its original certification date after a lapse only if it also shows the current cycle's start and expiry and the last cycle's expiry (note to §8.2.2 b). If deliveries fell in the gap, compare those dates.
On IAF CertSearch, the expiry date is a field of its own (IAF MD 28:2023 §4.2.1 ix), separate from the three status values (§4.2.1 x). Read both.
Reduced in scope
Not a status of its own, but it changes what a valid certificate covers: the parts of the scope where requirements were persistently or seriously not met are removed (§9.6.5.5). The revised certificate shows the effective date of the reduction (§8.2.2 b) and must be distinguishable from the obsolete one (§8.2.2 i). Check that what you buy is still inside the scope.
Valid
Valid on the day you checked. Keep that date with the result, because any of the statuses above can follow it.
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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