ISO 22003-2:2022 PDF

Overview - what ISO 22003-2:2022 covers

ISO 22003-2:2022 specifies requirements for bodies that evaluate and certify products, processes and services including an audit of the food safety system (FSS). It is supplemental to ISO/IEC 17065 and applies to certification schemes that combine internationally accepted food‑safety principles (for example CODEX General Principles of Food Hygiene) with management‑system elements. The standard sets out rules for third‑party conformity assessment of FSS, giving confidence to customers, regulators and supply‑chain partners about how certification decisions are made.

Note: ISO 22003-2 does not apply to certifications based solely on product testing (ISO/IEC 17025) or inspection (ISO/IEC 17020), or to schemes that lack both food‑safety principles and management‑system elements.

Key topics and technical requirements

The standard covers the full lifecycle of certification activities, including:

• General requirements: legal/contractual matters, confidentiality, publicly available information, non‑discrimination.
• Impartiality and governance: mechanisms to manage conflicts of interest and assure unbiased certification decisions.
• Structural requirements: organizational structure, top management responsibilities.
• Resource and competence: qualification, training and contract requirements for certification personnel; internal and external audit resources.
• Process requirements: application review, evaluation activities, audit planning and conduct, accepting external results, audit reporting, handling nonconformities, review and certification decision, surveillance, and suspension/withdrawal of certification.
• Management system requirements: quality and record‑keeping obligations, complaints and appeals handling.
• Annexes: classification of food‑chain categories, minimum audit duration, and required knowledge/skills to determine competence.

Practical applications - who uses ISO 22003-2 and why

• Certification bodies use it as the operational rulebook for certifying FSS‑based schemes in a consistent, auditable way.
• Accreditation bodies and peer assessors use it as criteria when accrediting or recognizing certification bodies.
• Regulatory authorities and industry consortia reference it for direct recognition or acceptance of certification bodies.
• Food producers, processors and suppliers rely on its outcomes to demonstrate that their FSS meets scheme requirements and applicable statutory/regulatory obligations (note: certification attests compliance of the system, not absolute product safety).
• Supply‑chain managers and buyers use certified status for supplier assurance and risk management.

Related standards and references

• ISO/IEC 17065 (product/process/service certification)
• ISO/IEC 17000 (conformity assessment vocabulary)
• ISO 22003‑1 (FSS requirements in combination with ISO/IEC 17021‑1)
• CODEX General Principles of Food Hygiene
• ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO/IEC 17020 (related, but not substitutes for FSS certification)

Keywords: ISO 22003-2, food safety system, FSS certification, certification body, audit, ISO/IEC 17065, accreditation, CODEX, surveillance, nonconformity, audit duration, competence.