This International Standard contains requirements for the competence, consistent operation and impartiality of product, process and service certification bodies. Certification bodies operating to this International Standard need not offer all types of products, processes and services certification. Certification of products, processes and services is a third-party conformity assessment activity (see ISO/IEC17000:2004, definition 5.5).

In this International Standard, the term "product" can be read as "process" or "service", except in those instances where separate provisions are stated for "processes" or "services" (see Annex B).