Application
The first step for the applicant is to fill in the application form and submit it along with, as a minimum, the following valid documents: Product description, Product manuals, Product technical description, drawings, and schemes (e.g. electrical, hydraulic), as well as technical drawings of critical components, ISO 9001 certificate(s) for product manufacturer and for all the manufacturing sites as identified in the application, Quality control plan(s) of the product, Copy of company’s formal registration documents, Undertaking letter from the manufacturer to act on his behalf in the scope of the certification process, Detailed description of changes which are the basis for submitting the application for certificate change
Product testing and assessment of test results
- Historical test results of the product may be accepted for certification purposes at the discretion of ESL. Acceptance by ESL of such historical data shall take into account aspects, such as but not limited to:
- product selection and sampling conditions;
- the validity of test results (including changes in product, changes of standard or testing method, the validity of test report as defined by the testing laboratory, etc.);
- accreditation of testing laboratory to ISO/IEC 17025 requirements;
Note: Lack of reference or link to the description of a random sampling of testing specimens carried out by an independent conformity assessment body in the submitted test reports shall result in disqualification of these reports from consideration for certification purposes. Moreover, unless sufficiently justified by existing global testing practices for the given product category, ESL shall not accept testing data older than 10 years from the date of submission of the relevant certification application.
- ESL shall analyze and assess the possibility of recognition of submitted test results taking into account formal and substantive aspects. In case of uncertainties or as a measure to confirm the validity of delivered test results, ESL has the right to order re-testing of product characteristics.
- Product sampling for testing purposes shall be undertaken by ESL in an unbiased fashion, within the selected part of the product group. The sampling methodology applied shall be either as specified in the standard(s) (when such requirements exist) or by implementing a simple random sampling or as applicable.
- All test results, either submitted by the Applicant or requested by ESL, for the certification process shall be analyzed and assessed by ESL based on criteria of the applied standard(s) and, whenever applicable, the requirements of the national codes and regulations. The process of product testing shall be considered as finalized when reception of sufficient objective evidence of product type testing is confirmed by ESL.
Assessment of control conditions over products’ manufacturing process
To ensure control of manufacturing conditions, the Manufacturer, as well as the factories, shall have quality management system(s) certified for conformity with ISO 9001 standard by quality management system certification body(ies), accredited according to requirements ISO/IEC 17021-1. The relevant activity concerning product manufacturing needs to be a subject matter of those certifications.
Independent review of the process
An independent review shall be conducted by a technically competent person (or group of people) who was/were not involved in the evaluation activities.
The decision on granting or refusing certification
When the outcome of the independent review is positive, a decision is made to grant certification. When the outcome of the independent review is negative, a decision is made to refuse certification. The decision shall be made by the person (or group of persons) who has not been involved in the evaluation activities.
