ISO 17021-3: the context conundrum

Changes have been made to ISO 17021-3 – the standard which details the requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of quality management systems (certification body auditors).

As a Category A Liaison to the technical committee that developed the revision, the CQI is well positioned to give you cutting edge information on first hand insight into the standard.

For CQI members operating certificated quality management systems these developments are significant and keeping on top of the changes is crucial.

In the past, ISO 17021-3 required the audit team collectively possessed specific knowledge. A major difference in the new standard is that this knowledge now needs to be possessed by every auditor in the team.

You will need to have knowledge and an understanding of:

·         the role of leadership in the quality management system

·         Risk based thinking

·         The process approach

·         How to apply PDCA (plan, do, check, act)

·         The fundamental concepts of quality

·         The seven Quality Management Principles

·         The context of the organisation.  

Quality directors and quality managers should now expect their certification body audit team to properly understand the business sector that their organisation is working in, including understanding who the organisation’s stakeholders are as well as their relevant requirements.

They should also have an appreciation of the issues the organisation is likely to face. This should ensure a more meaningful dialogue between the auditor and auditee. 

Richard Green, CQP MCQI, is the CQI representative for ISO 17021-3. He said: 'From a quality management system auditor perspective, these changes mean that certification body auditors may need to upskill to ensure they meet the new ISO 17021-3 knowledge requirements. They will also need to make sure they understand the business sectors they audit and they stay up to date with developments in those sectors. Although this was previously an expectation, to audit effectively against ISO 9001:2015 this is now essential.'