PRODUCT CERTIFICATION

Product certification or product qualification is the process of certifying that a certain product has passed performance tests and quality assurance tests, and meets qualification criteria stipulated in contracts, regulations, or specifications (sometimes called “certification schemes” in the product certification industry).

When the product to be certified is received at the testing laboratory, it is tested in accordance with the laboratory’s internal procedures and with the methods listed in the test standards specified by the certification scheme.

The process for certification of a product is generally summed up in four steps:

• Application (including testing of the product)
• Evaluation (does the test data indicate that the product meets qualification criteria)
• Decision (does a second review of the product application concur with the Evaluation)
• Surveillance (does the product in the marketplace continue to meet qualification criteria)

In many instances, prior to applying for certification, a product supplier will send a product to a testing laboratory (some certification schemes require the product to be sent out for testing by the product certifier instead).

The resulting data collected by the testing laboratory, and is then forwarded either back to the manufacturer, or directly to the product certifier.