Documents serve different purposes
A management-system certificate, material test report, dimensional inspection report and product test report answer different questions. Request the document that supports the specific claim being evaluated.
Quality documents buyers should understand
A plain-English guide to certificates, inspection reports, traceability records and why a document title alone is not proof.
START WITH THREE QUESTIONS
What a careful reader should establish.
- Who issued the document and for which lot?
- Can the document be traced to the ordered product?
- Is the issuing body and scope independently verifiable?
- Issuer identity and scope
- Product, lot and date linkage
- Standard, method and measured results
Verify rather than collect PDFs
Check certificate numbers and scope with the issuing organization where possible. Look for inconsistent names, expired dates, altered files and reports that do not identify the supplied lot.
- Current validity and scope
- Legal entity name consistency
- Traceable lot or batch identification
Check the original source.
These links are starting points, not proof that a particular product or supplier complies.
ISO conformity assessment resources↗IAF CertSearch↗