Regulation and sustainability
The certificate is signed by someone nobody knows
A certificate is worth whatever its issuer is worth. Checking takes three minutes and almost nobody spends them.
A certificate arrives with a stamp, a reference number and an impeccable look. It gets filed. Months later someone asks who issued it and it turns out to be a body nobody has heard of, appearing in no register, whose website runs to three pages. The document is not fake — it simply evidences nothing.
The four grades, and only the first is fraud
| What it is | What it is worth |
|---|---|
| A forged document | Nothing, and it is a serious problem besides |
| Genuine, from an unrecognised body | Little: it is one company's opinion |
| Genuine, but of another scope | Good for its own scope, not for yours |
| Genuine, recognised and current | What you were after |
Important
**The row that shows up most in real life is the second, and it is not fraud: it is marketing.** One company pays another to review something and receives a document saying so. All true, all genuine, and worthless to whoever requires accreditation of you — because what is required is not that somebody certifies it, but that it is certified by whoever is recognised to do so. Telling those apart is exactly the work nobody does at filing time.
Three checks, three minutes
- 1
Search for the issuer by name and number
Recognised bodies appear in public, searchable registers.
- 2
Read the certificate's scope, not just its title
It is usually in the small print, and that is where cover shows.
- 3
And check the date and the status
A suspended or withdrawn certificate looks exactly the same.
Watch out
One detail separates those who check from those who file: **the certificate you need is the one for the specific product or process, not for the company**. A manufacturer holding a management certification says nothing about whether THAT model meets what you need. It is the most commercially exploited confusion and the easiest to undo: look for what you are buying inside the certificate.
Worth knowing
Which accreditation is required in each case, which bodies are recognised to issue it and how currency is verified depends on the product, the sector and the country. **Your adviser or the relevant body settles that**; here we explain how to spot the case where a genuine document evidences less than it appears to.
›Is a stamped certificate valid?
The stamp is not the evidence. The issuer and the scope are.
›Can I ask the supplier to justify it?
Yes, and an evasive answer is itself information.
›What if the issuer is in no register?
Treat it as a supplier declaration, which is a different thing.
A real case
The situation
A supplier hands over a certificate from a body that appears in no register.
What you do
- Looks the issuer up before filing and treats it as a supplier declaration
What you get
The file reflects what that paper actually evidences, which is less than it seemed.
The situation
The manufacturer's management certification is filed in the belief it covers the product.
What you do
- Checks whether the model being bought appears in the certificate's scope
What you get
It emerges in time that the product document was missing, not the company one.
The situation
A valid-looking certificate has been withdrawn for months and the paper looks just as impeccable.
What you do
- Checks the status and currency, not only the printed date
What you get
The file stops resting on a document that is no longer in force.
The situation
A certificate arrives and is filed without looking at who issued it.
What you do
- Checks the issuer before accepting it
What you get
A certificate is worth what its signatory is worth.
The situation
The issuer cannot be found anywhere.
What you do
- Asks the supplier and records the answer
What you get
The doubt is settled before a client settles it.
The situation
A client asks about the issuer of one of your certificates.
What you do
- Checks what was recorded on receipt
What you get
You answer without phoning the supplier.
This article answers
- how do i know a certificate is valid
- certificate from an unknown laboratory
- check whether a certifier is accredited
- fake supplier certificate