"Certifications" division
Cofrac's "Certifications" division accredits certification bodies that are involved, for example, in the issuing of "organic" labels or the certification of property diagnosticians.
Our "Certifications" division is one of Cofrac's four divisions. It will be your sole point of contact throughout the accreditation process if your conformity assessment body issues certifications, verifications or qualifications.
In our division, in 2020:
197 entities were accredited in all
including 16 initial accreditations over the course of the year
- and 6 abroad
634 assessments were conducted
15 employees
Our Certifications division is organised around two poles:
- Services-Products-Verification-Agrifood
- Management-Products-Qualification-Persons
La section Certifications du Cofrac est organisée autour de 2 pôles :
- SPVA, pour Services, Produits, Vérification et Agroalimentaire, qui couvre les normes ISO/IEC 17065, ISO/IEC 17021-1, ISO 14065 et NF X 050-091 ;
- Et MPQP, pour Management, Produits, Qualification et Personnes, qui couvre également l’ISO/IEC 17065, l’ISO/IEC 17021-1 et la NF X 050-091, ainsi que la norme ISO/IEC 17024.
What types of bodies can be accredited by the "Certifications" division of Cofrac ?
Certification bodies for products, services or processes
"Label Rouge" certification for food, the "NF" mark for everyday products and services, the "BBC" label in the building sector: these are all certifications issued by bodies that have been accredited according to accreditation standard ISO/IEC 17065 by the Cofrac "Certifications" division.
Personnel certification bodies
Persons conducting energy performance diagnostics prior to property sales; persons responsible for conducting quality or safety audits in companies: these persons are certified by Cofrac-accredited bodies. In this case, it is accreditation standard ISO/IEC 17024 that applies.
Management systems certification bodies
Les normes ISO 9001 ou ISO 14001, bien connues du grand public, sont portées par des organismes de certification qui peuvent eux-mêmes être accrédités Cofrac, selon la norme d’accréditation ISO/CEI 17021-1. Elles couvrent des secteurs aussi divers que le management de la qualité, environnemental, de l’énergie, de la sécurité de l’information ou anti-corruption.
Bodies that verify greenhouse gas emission declarations
The Cofrac certifications division is tasked with accrediting bodies that issue conformity assessment certificates for the greenhouse gas emission declarations from manufacturers, airline companies or maritime companies, and which are produced by a third party. Here, ISO 14065 accreditation standard applies along with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2067 for fixed installations and airline companies, and Regulation (EU) No. 2015/757 for maritime companies.
For information, verification is a systematic, independent and documented process for assessing a declaration against approved criteria. It also concerns EMAS verification, for which bodies are accredited by the Certifications division in accordance with Regulation (EC) No. 1221/2009.
Bodies issuing company qualifications
Companies delivering services in the field of energy performance are qualified by bodies that may claim accreditation from Cofrac. The qualification of companies is a "certification of conformity by a third party of a company's competence to demonstrate its capacity to deliver services" (examination of applications by a jury), in accordance with accreditation standard NF X 50-091.
By whom are the accreditations of the Cofrac Certification division recognised?
Our division applies the requirements of standard ISO / IEC 17011. Consequently, our accreditations are recognised by :
- The Institut Français and the competent authorities in this regard, such as INAO (National institute for origin and quality).
* Cf. Decree No. 2008-1401 of 19/12/2008 (article 2)
- European cooperation for Accreditation (EA) and International Accreditation Forum (IAF), in the framework of multilateral recognition arrangements for the accreditation activities of certification and verification bodies.
- Private specifiers
Including: Groupement des Industries Françaises Aéronautiques et Spatiales (GIFAS), PEFC France and PEFC Belgium in the forestry sector, Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), the Federation of trade and retail companies (FCD), Food + for GLOBAL GAP certifications, British Retail Consortium for BRC certifications, ENEDIS for the certification of underground electric pipe fitters, etc.
