The official definition of conformity assessment is: “Demonstration that specified requirements relating to a product, process, system, person or body are fulfilled” (definition in EN ISO/IEC 17000:2004 Conformity assessment – Vocabulary and general principles).
Due to the ever-increasing technical complexity of industry and business, it is becoming more and more important to be able to demonstrate that what is being supplied actually meets the requirements specified or claimed. Such a demonstration is called conformity assessment. Conformity assessment can be applied to a product (including, for these purposes, a service), a process, a system, a body or persons, and includes activities such as testing, inspection and certification.
3rd-party assessment
Third-party assessment is the assessment of an organization performed by an independent body. The organization carrying out the assessment shall be independent of both supplier and customer organizations and deliver an impartial assessment.