IAF MD 2:
2.3.5 The accepting certification body shall take the decision on certification before any surveillance or recertification audits are initiated.
In case of a positive decision to take over the MS certification of a client (all conditions fulfilled, IAF MD 2, chap. 2.1 and 2.2) shortly before the end of the regular certification cycle (about 3 months before the expiry of the previous CB’s certificate), can an “accepting” CB refrain from issuing a new certificate for this very short period and formally take over the client with the recertification audit, formal decision, and subsequent issuing of the new certificate, based on the previous cycle from the “issuing” CB?
September 2023
No. The accepting CB shall take a decision on certification before any recertification audits are initiated. Additionally, according to 8.2 of ISO/IEC 17021-1, the CB is required to issue a certification document including all required information such as scope, validity, etc. after the decision is made.