ISCC and ANSI signed an MOU to cooperate in an independent third-party program to accredit certification bodies that will be conducting ISCC certification. ANSI and ISCC will regularly assess, monitor, and oversee these certification bodies for continuous compliance with ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS certification scheme requirements.
"Adding ANSI accreditation to our ISCC certification program fosters the continuous improvement of ISCC," says Dr. Norbert Schmitz, Managing Director of ISCC. "We are happy to have ANSI as a reliable partner to monitor the performance of our certification bodies and keeping up the integrity and trustworthiness of ISCC sustainability certification."
ANSI accreditation adds value to the certification process, providing third-party assurance that certification bodies demonstrate compliance with the ISCC system and are capable and competent to carry out their responsibilities.
Reliance upon accreditation brings another important benefit to ISCC-certified bodies: international relevance and portability. The accreditation verifies that the competence of certification bodies is in conformance with ISO/IEC 17065, Conformity Assessment - Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services; ISCC EU; and ISCC PLUS. And because ANSI is a signatory to the International Accreditation Forum Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) for the accreditation of product certification bodies, an ANSI-accredited program is recognized the world over, reducing the need for duplicative credentials for different markets.
"Accreditation by ANSI creates a valuable attribute for certification bodies," said Reinaldo Figueiredo, ANSI senior program director for product and process accreditation. "We are proud that ISCC has recognized this value and are pleased to partner on this important program."
ANSI's accreditation program successfully meets the requirements of ISO/IEC 17011, Conformity assessment - General requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies, which represents the highest internationally accepted practices for accreditation bodies. The Institute's portfolio of accreditation services includes programs for all types of certification and verification bodies, including those for products, personnel, greenhouse gas emissions, as well as standards developers.
During the process of establishing partnership between ANSI and ISCC, ANSI thoroughly reviewed and evaluated ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS normative documents. The ANSI Accreditation Committee judged the ISCC standards as being in accordance with ISO/IEC 17011. For ISCC, ANSI will provide ongoing control of the compliance of ISCC's certification bodies and assures their competence via regular surveillance and witness assessments by experienced assessors.
About ISCC
ISCC is a globally applicable certification system for all kinds of biomass and biomass based products to prove sustainability and greenhouse gas emission reduction. ISCC is suitable to demonstrate compliance with sustainability requirements in the liquid bioenergy sector (ISCC EU) as well as in the feed and food sector or for technical and chemical applications (ISCC PLUS). Since its start of operation in 2010, ISCC strives to keep up a high audit quality and place trust in the certificates. More than 2,600 companies in 90 countries are using ISCC currently.