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Accreditation Process guides you a process to be accredited for a certification body, by KAB, please refer to Accreditation documents for more information.

The timeframe to be taken from application to decision on accreditation is normally expected to be 145 days. The days shown in the diagram are based on working days of KAB and exclude the time incurred by the applicant such as supplementing application documents and taking for corrective actions.

KAB will review application documentation and inform the applicant of the results within 20 days from the date of application. The application will only be accepted in case that all documents and fees required are properly received and reviewed by KAB.

After completion of reviewing applications, the review of quality system documents will be conducted and the results will be informed to the applicant within 20 days. Document review is conducted in case of the application for accreditation or re-accreditation as well as in case that significant changes of quality systems of accredited bodies are made. The applicant is requested to take proper corrective actions against non-conformities issued within 90 days from the date of the written notification.

The Office Assessment will be conducted at the applicant's office within 30 days from the date of completion of corrective actions against the non-conformities issued as a result of document review.

The KAB assessment team will evaluate the resources and the competence of the applicant including the implementation of documented quality system and the analysis of the certification audit. On completion of the office assessment, the KAB assessment team will have a interim meeting with the applicant for discussion of non-conformities raised, while explaining further actions to be taken by the applicant.

After the office assessment is completed, the KAB assessment team will witness a complete certification audit conducted by applicants. Subjects and scopes to be witnessed will be determined by accreditation team during office assessment with taking into account;

1) Critical scopes
2) Main certification scopes of the applicant
3) Work experience and audit experience of certification auditors in applicable industrial sectors
4) Effectiveness of audit instructions and training of the auditors in the relevant industrial sectors
5) Any other applied scopes in which competence of applicant for performing certification functions has not been demonstrated.

When necessary, technical experts may accompany the KAB assessment team for particular technical advice.

The applicant is requested to take corrective actions and submit the results within 90 days from the day of issue of non-conformities at each stage of accreditation assessments.(Document review, office assessment, witness assessment, and f/up assessment)
The KAB assessment team will review and confirm the results of corrective actions through document review or office visit.

When all non-conformities issued are cleared and confirmed, and all accreditation fees including accreditation assessment fee are paid in full, the ARP will be convened to review the records of the assessment conducted and decide whether or not accreditation should be granted.

In case the ARP decides to grant accreditation, the applicant will be notified of the ARP decisions and the information about the registration fee.
The KAB will publicly announce the accreditation on the applicant and issue the certificate when all fees including the registration fee are paid in full.

KAB accredited certification bodies shall comply with Statement of Oath to observe
Accreditation Criteria and Procedures, KAB-G-01 that certification bodies submitted with initial application for accreditation.
Also KAB conducts periodic surveillance or special surveillance, and reassessment to evaluate if accredited certification bodies continue to comply with accreditation criteria and certification procedures, as well as to evaluate if certification audit teams are competent.

Surveillance assessment

The periodic surveillance will be carried out once or more per every year from the date of granting accreditation. However, for the first year of initial accreditation, surveillance will be carried out once every six months from the date of granting accreditation. The assessment will be carried out in the same manner as the initial accreditation assessment to evaluate continuous conformity and implementation of quality system of the certification body. Document review will not be included unless it is determined otherwise.

Special surveillance

The special surveillance will be conducted when deemed necessary. No assessment fee will be charged for this surveillance.

Re-accreditation assessment

The Reassessment for renewal of accreditation will be carried out every three years from the date of granting accreditation. Accredited bodies are requested to submit application forms for the re-accreditation prior to at least 3 months from the expiration date of accreditation without application fee.
In the reassessment, the KAB assessment team will review the entire quality system of accredited bodies in order to make sure continuous suitability of quality management system against accreditation criteria.

Reporting

Certification bodies are required to submit monthly certification and surveillance performance, using a form defined, to KAB by 10th of the following month. Certification bodies are also required to report any changes on the items in the form within 10 days from the changes occurred. KAB will conduct special surveillance when it is determined that such reports have significant impacts to certification activities.

Certification bodies are required to report KAB changes of their names or locations, or suspension or discontinue of their partial or all certification activities, within a month of such changes. KAB will conduct special surveillance when it is determined that the reports significantly affect to certification activities. For more information please refer to KAB accreditation documents.