Publicizing your ISO 9001:2008 or ISO 14001:2004 certification

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. In brief
3. ISO's logo
4. Be precise !
5. Certification, registration and accreditation
6. The little difference that means a lot
7. Process, not product standards
8. Scope of certification

The little difference that means a lot

Can you see a difference between “ISO certified” and “ISO 9001:2008 certified”, or between “ISO certification” and “ISO 14001:2004 certification” ? Does the difference appear minimal ? Maybe, but the possibility for misunderstanding is substantial.

For example, when your organization puts out a press release to announce its certification, you may be clear in your own head that where the text refers to your “ISO certification”,you of course mean “ISO 9001:2008 (or ISO 14001:2004) certification”.
But what about your audience ? They could certainly understand “ISO certification” as meaning “certification carried out by ISO”. You would therefore be adding to the common misconception that it is ISO which issues ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certificates, or which controls the bodies that do so. You need to take care not to imply that ISO audited your organization and certified it – although it is perfectly okay to give information on ISO as the source of ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004.

ISO recommends that, in the interests of transparency, you specify which certification body has awarded your certificate.

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