Certification audit

Audit carried out by an auditing organization independent of the client and the parties that rely on certification, for the purpose of certifying the client's management system Note 1 to entry: In the definitions which follow, the term “audit” has been used for simplicity to refer to third-party certification audit. Note 2 to entry: Certification audits include initial, surveillance, re-certification audits, and can also include special audits. Note 3 to entry: Certification audits are typically conducted by audit teams of those bodies providing certification of conformity to the requirements of management system standards. Note 4 to entry: A joint audit is when two or more auditing organizations cooperate to audit a single client. Note 5 to entry: A combined audit is when a client is being audited against the requirements of two or more management systems standards together. Note 6 to entry: An integrated audit is when a client has integrated the application of requirements of two or more management systems standards into a single management system and is being audited against more than one standard.