Certificate: right place to use

Hi all,

I am trying to understand when to use the word 'certificate'.

I know the definition of "certification": "third-party attestation related to products, processes, systems or persons ". On ISO site it is defined also "Certification – the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements.". It seems to be synchronized in the main idea that certification is done by the 3rd party person, not by myself. Then, I say, a certificate is something which is given by the 3rd party. Surprisingly, I didn't find any definition of "certificate" in the standards. Then I googled and found e.g. Leica blue certificates - issued by Leica itself for herself - and several other non-public 'certificates' issued by the manufacturer.

From my point of view it is correct to call such "certificates" like "test report"...am I right? And usage of the word "certificate" shall be limited only to the cases when an independent party issued it?

The world of ISO 17025 for Calibration and Test laboratories gives the following guidance:

7.8.2.1 Each report shall include at least the following information, unless the laboratory has valid
reasons for not doing so, thereby minimizing any possibility of misunderstanding or misuse:
a) a title (e.g. “Test Report”, “Calibration Certificate” or “Report of Sampling”);

Since 17025 applies to organizations with internal calibration laboratories, the Calibration Certificates would not be limited to be coming from a third party issuer.

Cyrill said:

Hi all,

I am trying to understand when to use the word 'certificate'.

I know the definition of "certification": "third-party attestation related to products, processes, systems or persons ". On ISO site it is defined also "Certification – the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements.". It seems to be synchronized in the main idea that certification is done by the 3rd party person, not by myself. Then, I say, a certificate is something which is given by the 3rd party. Surprisingly, I didn't find any definition of "certificate" in the standards. Then I googled and found e.g. Leica blue certificates - issued by Leica itself for herself - and several other non-public 'certificates' issued by the manufacturer.

From my point of view it is correct to call such "certificates" like "test report"...am I right? And usage of the word "certificate" shall be limited only to the cases when an independent party issued it?

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Good day Cryill;
Reminder that ISO 17025 (laboratory) differs from the typical ISO family of standards.
A laboratory (ISO 17025) is not 'certified', it is instead "Accredited".

In the 17025 context, 'certificate' applies to lesser/sub activities/documents, such as described by @dwperron .\\

Hope this helps.
Be well.

Since 17025 applies to organizations with internal calibration laboratories

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Yes, and I don't see any problems with it: "Certification – the provision by an independent body". According to ISO17025 since 2017, laboratory must work impartial, which allows inhouse labs. So when internal lab is accredited -> it is an independent body. Yes, impartial != independent, but it a) follows the idea of certification as a process with an activity of an external actor(independent, impartial, objective) b) the definition on ISO website is not a standard and could be not precise for the sake of simplicity
My problem is with the case when a laboratory is not accredited by any 3rd party body(e.g. is not 17025 accredited), but issue a 'certificate'.

Reminder that ISO 17025 (laboratory) differs from the typical ISO family of standards.

Click to expand...

That's interesting: could you please point me where to dig? I don't feel the difference yet.

Reminder that ISO 17025 (laboratory) differs from the typical ISO family of standards.

Click to expand...

That's interesting: could you please point me where to dig? I don't feel the difference yet.

Brother Abnet is correct that ISO 17025 differs from the "typical" ISO family of standards. The applicable standard there is ISO 10012:2003, which is undergoing a much overdue revision. It is the calibration document for the ISO 9000 series of standards, and is rather weak for a standard, more of a guidance document for calibration. ISO 10012 labs are certified, not accredited.

There are multiple mentions of calibration certificates in ISO 10012, but nothing that restricts them to being issued by a third party issuer. Certificates can be released by whoever performs the "metrological confirmation".

Thank you so much for the answer!