Certification Bodies, third-party certification schemes and the relationship with accreditation service providers

27/03/2025

A Certification Body (CB), of which the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT) is one, is an independent organisation that provides products to industry for such things as the certification of persons. In the case of BINDT, the product it provides for certification could be described as the Institute’s PCN Certification Scheme, which provides certification issued in accordance with BS EN ISO 9712.

BINDT’s PCN Certification Scheme is an internationally recognised programme for the certification and qualification of non-destructive testing (NDT) personnel satisfying the requirements of BS EN ISO 9712. It provides for a wide range of diverse qualification examinations covering NDT methods, techniques, products and industrial sectors for those individuals who can demonstrate that they meet the minimum requirements for training, examinations and practical industrial experience. Periodically, standards such as BS EN ISO 9712 are required to be reviewed and updated to capture such things as revised working practices for the implementation of new technology and such similar practical requests for change, which could be seen to be of benefit to all, were they to be adopted.

We are now all aware of BS EN ISO 9712:2022 and of PCN’s commitment to ensure the PCN Certification Scheme can be shown to be compliant with the standard through development of a slimmed down suite of documents and appendices, collectively known as PCN24, to ensure that the ongoing competence of today’s NDT inspectors and engineers is delivered and maintained.

The redesign of the PCN Certification Scheme has seen the PCN legacy scheme move towards a modern, contemporary and transparent suite of certification documents aiming to inform and inspire confidence in users while also convincing our regulators of our compliance. The recent United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) review and approval of our submitted documentation and demonstrated implementation of ISO 9712-compliant personnel certification, supported by associated procedural control and resourcing, has resulted in re-accreditation of BINDT as meeting the responsibilities of the certifying body in accordance with BS EN ISO/IEC 17024:2012 for a further period of two years. This thereby empowers PCN administrators to monitor the development and maintenance of its certification scheme for persons with regard to such things as legal matters, where the Institute is defined as being the legal entity, such that it can be held legally responsible for its certification activities, examples of which are:

The CB is responsible for all decisions on certification and in this regard the Institute, via the appropriate committee for impartiality and due process, shall be responsible for, retain authority for and shall not delegate its decisions relating to certification, including the granting, maintaining, recertifying, suspending or withdrawing of certification.
It shall be responsible for the impartiality of its certification activities and shall not allow commercial, financial or other pressures to compromise its impartiality.
It shall be responsible for all records and information requirements relating to applicants, candidates and certified persons and shall maintain records to include a means to confirm the status of the certified
person.
It shall request and retain records to demonstrate that the certification or recertification process to meet BS EN ISO 9712 has been effectively fulfilled, particularly with respect to application forms, assessment reports and other documents relating to the granting, maintaining, recertifying, suspending and/or withdrawing of
certification.
It shall have enforceable arrangements that require that the certified person informs the Certification Body of matters that can affect the capability of the certified person to continue to fulfil the requirements of certification. Requirements may include, but not be limited to, information on periods of inactivity, of not effectively demonstrating ongoing practical competence both at Level 2 and 3 through use of Annex D within CP16/17, or by means of not exercising practical surveillance inspections at an Authorised Qualifying Body (AQB) when required, or by not effectively passing the required practical examination at Level 2 where other avenues are exhausted.

As such, all aspirant PCN candidates will be required to supply the information needed for the assessment of any certification application, which includes all supporting information to demonstrate objectively compliance with the PCN Scheme’s requirements.
The Certification Body will review the application to confirm that the applicant complies with the application requirements of the certification scheme. The information gathered during the certification process must be sufficient for the Certification Body to make a decision on the certification required for traceability in the event of an appeal or a complaint.

Decisions for granting, maintaining, recertifying, extending, reducing, suspending or withdrawing certification will never be outsourced and where the existence of doubt exists, the certification application will be provided to the certification scheme manager and/or technical department for additional review and, where justified, approval. Should this not be the case, the applicant will be informed of the necessary procedures to take, to confirm application acceptance.

The process described herein for BINDT to meet the requirements of BS EN ISO/IEC 17024:2012 and to offer personal certification against BS EN ISO 9712 should reassure the reader that their personal certification has been issued in accordance with a robust and auditable process. The decisions on certification will be made solely by the Certification Body on the basis of the information provided during the application process, and the personnel who make the decisions on certification have sufficient knowledge and experience within the certification process to determine if the certification requirements have been met.

Implicit in the above is that certification will unfortunately not be granted until all certification requirements have been fulfilled and adequately evidenced.

For BINDT to provide a certification scheme, it must achieve independent accreditation in order to demonstrate to the marketplace that it is technically competent to provide the services it offers; this is where the Institute’s relationship with UKAS is based. UKAS is the National Accreditation Body for the United Kingdom, appointed by government to assess and accredit organisations that provide services, including certification, testing, inspection, calibration, validation and verification. For the purpose of providing certification, the Institute is audited against BS EN ISO/IEC 17024:2012 Conformity assessment – General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons, which in turn is instrumental in the Institute’s ability to demonstrate conformity.

The international standard BS EN ISO/IEC 17024:2012 contains the principles and requirements that all CBs must meet when certifying persons against specific requirements, such as those in BS EN ISO 9712. It includes the development and maintenance of a certification scheme for persons and considerations for audit activity in accordance with the requirements contained therein.

UKAS is appointed by the government to provide accreditation to such entities as certification bodies in the UK. The accreditation service provided by UKAS is considered to be a leader in the field of certification to ISO standards and the only way that an organisation can use the coveted government-backed national accreditation symbol. Therefore, in order for BINDT to remain compliant, it is audited on an annual basis and, in doing so, it provides an assurance to its scheme users as to the competence, impartiality, integrity and conformity of the scheme, which is referenced on the UKAS website as: 0030 (accredited to BS EN ISO/IEC 17024:2012 to provide certification of persons against EN ISO 9712). The accreditation BINDT has achieved thus demonstrates its ability to offer a wide range of certification services for virtually all NDT methods, at all levels, allowing it to support businesses in achieving excellence for the deployment of NDT on a global scale through the PCN Certification Scheme.

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