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This is because UKAS wants to ensure that any assessment bodies that operate in their name are competent enough to assess businesses to ensure that they meet ISO standards. This is to help ensure that any certification provided by these bodies means something. It guarantees that an industry professional has determined that a company does, indeed, meet ISO standards.
Non-UKAS certification providers will come up with their own certification processes. They are under absolutely no obligation to ensure that they are genuinely assessing businesses to ISO standards.
In fact, many are not. In many cases, there is no financial incentive to do so. Therefore, many of these certification providers may be offering ISO certification to old standards. This means the certificate is worthless. Non-UKAS certification providers do not have any obligation to employ competent assessors or technical experts.
In fact, many do not. Their certification process may often be nothing more than a few checkboxes. This is how these certification providers are able to offer their services so cheaply and quickly.
There have been several cases where these organisations have been successfully prosecuted by Trading Standards. A key provision for obtaining UKAS accreditation is impartiality.
Any accredited ISO consulting organisation must adhere to strict guidelines on the advice that they are able to offer to their clients. UKAS prohibits any assessment organisation from receiving accreditation if they also offer consultancy services. As a result, any accredited body is solely an assessor. While they may be able to provide transparent advice for companies wishing to meet ISO standards, these organisations are not permitted to offer any paid advice outside of the assessment services that they offer.
Non-UKAS certification providers do not have to meet the same standards. In fact, offering consultation is often a key part of their business model. This can create a conflict of interest where the certification provider is unwilling to offer their certification unless the business they are working with is willing to pay for their expensive consultation services.
While the initial cost of obtaining the certification may be cheap, the long-term costs may end up becoming rather extravagant. Many businesses obtain certification because their industry requires it. Demonstrating that a business conforms to ISO standards may often form a key part of the tendering or sales process. We often come across organisations that inadvertently engaged with a non UKAS body and have been rejected from the tendering process. If businesses hold a non-UKAS certification instead, they will often find themselves struggling to make sales.
Quite often, these businesses may be excluded from any tendering process. When they contact potential clients directly, they may struggle to receive a response. This is because businesses that work with non-UKAS certification holders are taking a huge risk. If the businesses that they work with do not meet ISO standards, then it could mean huge financial penalties and a massive reputation hit if something goes wrong.
It should also be noted that many businesses that seek non-UKAS certification do so in order to save money. Other companies recognise this. They often feel that businesses cutting costs in such an important area are likely to be going through strict cost-cutting elsewhere too.
This means that they may not be receiving the best service possible. Any business holding non-UKAS certification that is able to make headway in the sales or tendering process may be required to demonstrate that their business meets ISO standards in other ways.
This, quite often, means a costly process. In fact, this process can quite often cost more than applying for UKAS certification in the first place. While the lower upfront costs of applying for non-UKAS certification may be tempting, in the long run, it could end up costing businesses a significant amount of money.
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