Overview
ISO/IEC TR 17028:2017 - Conformity assessment: Guidelines and examples of a certification scheme for services provides guidance and practical examples for developing and operating service certification schemes. It recognizes that services differ from tangible products (intangible output, customer interaction, transient instances) and offers a functional, proportionate approach to attesting that a service meets specified requirements. The technical report is informative (guidelines and examples) and complements existing conformity assessment standards.
Key topics and requirements
- Fundamentals of service certification: definition of service certification as third‑party attestation and the role of certification bodies (conformant with ISO/IEC 17065).
- Functional approach: tailoring assessment methods to the characteristics of services (interfaces with customers, transient nature).
- Scheme development and management:
- Role and responsibilities of the scheme owner
- Stakeholder engagement (providers, customers, regulators, accreditation bodies)
- Scheme governance, documentation and reporting
- Marketing, fraud prevention, complaints and appeals handling
- Content of a certification scheme:
- Defining the scope and elements of the scheme
- Selection elements: certification requirements, sampling, acceptance of external assessment results, selection of evaluation activities, outsourcing
- Certification process: application, certification agreement, evaluation phases and attestation
- Licensing and control of certificates and marks of conformity, and addressing misuse of marks
- Surveillance and managing changes affecting certification (requirements, scheme updates, operational review)
- Practical annexes: examples and templates (Annex A–F) including sample schemes, application information, certification agreements, licensing documentation.
Applications
ISO/IEC TR 17028:2017 is used to design, implement and operate credible certification schemes for services across sectors such as professional services, IT and cloud services, financial and health services, education, facility management and public services. It helps ensure certification:
- Is proportionate to the risk and consequences of service failure
- Uses appropriate assessment methods for service delivery modes
- Provides confidence to customers, regulators and procurers
Who should use this standard
- Scheme owners (including certification bodies acting as owners) designing service certification programs
- Certification bodies developing procedures for evaluating services
- Service providers seeking certification and understanding scheme expectations
- Accreditation bodies, regulators, purchasers and other stakeholders relying on or recognizing service certification
Related standards
- ISO/IEC 17065 - Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services
- ISO/IEC 17067 - Fundamentals of product certification (scheme types; notes on services)
- ISO/IEC 17000 - Conformity assessment vocabulary and principles
Keywords: ISO/IEC TR 17028:2017, service certification, conformity assessment, certification scheme for services, scheme owner, attestation, mark of conformity, surveillance.