Terms and definitions

Terms sorted alphabetically

'ActivFire® Scheme' means a conformity assessment scheme, owned by CSIRO and operated by CSIRO Verification Services, for the purposes of product certification of active fire protection.

'Accredited Testing Laboratory' means a body defined by the National Construction Code of Australia, Volume 1 Schedule 3 Definitions, including the following.

§         An organisation accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) to undertake relevant test; or

§         An organisation outside of Australia registered by an authority recognized by NATA through the mutual recognition agreement; or

§         An organisation recognised as being a Accredited Testing Laboratory under legislation at the time the test was undertaken.

'Agent/distributor' means the producer, or business entity authorised by the producer, that is designated on the Register as a point/source of supply and support for the certified products.

'Applicant' means the producer, or business entity authorised by the producer, to initialise and/or facilitate the verification process required to certify a product.

'Attestation' means issue of a statement that specified requirements have been met. (AS ISO/IEC 17000-2005, 5.2)

'Body' means a business entity that has specific tasks and composition. (ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1991, 4.1)

'Business entity' means an entity represented by a person, business/company, body corporate or other legal entity responsible for the products and services they produce and supply.

'Certification classification' means the non-hierarchical groupings of products registered by the conformity assessment scheme according to the source or process from which they have been verified for conformity and defined as follows.

§         Listed Body Approval (LBA); listing and registration of products, verified by the conformity assessment scheme, as meeting specified requirements which are not included within the current scope of JAS-ANZ accreditation or which are in the process to being migrated to product certification standards which are included within the current scope of JAS-ANZ accreditation.

§         Recognised Body Approval (RBA); listing and registration of products, verified by the conformity assessment scheme, as meeting specified requirements based upon recognition and evidence of verification of conformity issued by a recognised conformity assessment body.

'Certificate of Conformity (CoC)' means a document, issued under the rules and procedures of the conformity assessment scheme, indicating that a designated product is in conformity with specified requirements. (ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1991, 14.8)

'Certification' means an attestation by a third-party body (the conformity assessment body) that is independent of the business entity that provides the product and of the user interested in that product. (AS ISO/IEC 17000-2005, 5.5) (ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1991, 13.5.2)

'Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)' means an independent statutory authority constituted by the Australian Government and operating under the provisions of the Science and Industry Research Act 1949.

'Conformity assessment body' means a body that performs conformity assessment services. (AS ISO/IEC 17000-2005, 2.5)

'Conformity assessment schedule' means an itemised list of the designations (trade brands/models) and descriptive/explanatory details of certified products, within and/or appended to, a certificate of conformity.

'Conformity assessment scheme' means a conformity assessment system as related to specified objects of conformity assessment to which the same particular specified requirements, rules and procedures apply. (AS ISO/IEC 17000-2005, 2.8)

'Conformity assessment system' means a system of rules of procedure and management for carrying out certification of conformity. (AS ISO/IEC 17000-2005, 2.7)

'Conformity assessment' means demonstration that specified requirements relating to a product, process or system are fulfilled. (AS ISO/IEC 17000-2005, 2.1)

'CSIRO Verification Services (CVS)' means the management and administrative group operating the CSIRO conformity assessment body.

'CSIRO-Services (CSIRO-Services)' means a CSIRO line of business

'Declaration of conformity' means a first party attestation issued by the business entity that provides the product. (AS ISO/IEC 17000-2005)

'Evaluation for conformity' means confirmation, by examination of evidence that a product, process or service fulfils specified reference criteria. (ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1991, 13.3)

'Evidence of conformity' means a statement of conformity together with other relevant articles related to conformity assessment of a specific product by a conformity assessment body.

'Joint Accreditation Scheme – Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ)' means a body, appointed for Australia and New Zealand, responsible for providing accreditation of conformity assessment bodies in the fields of certification and inspection.

'Manufacturer': see Producer

'Manufacturing unit' means a business entity providing the production/assembly processes of a product. Maunfacturing units are classed as Primary (Manufacturer)a, Secondary (major components) and Tertiary (minor components)

'Normative document' means a document that provides rules, requirements, guidelines or characteristics for activities and their results.  It is a generic term that covers documents such as standards, technical specifications, codes of practice and regulations. (ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1991, 3.1)

'Primary manufacturing unit (Manufacturer)' means the manufacturing unit providing the total, substantive or final production/assembly process of a product.

'Producer' means the business entity responsible for the design management, manufacturing specifications and quality management/control associated with the conformity and manufacture of a product.

'Product certification body' means a body operated for the purposes of product certification and registration based upon evidence of conformity with relevant reference criteria and the fulfilment of other specified requirements. (ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1991, 14.3)

'Product developer' means the producer, or business entity engaged by the producer, for the purposes of developing the conceptual and/or aesthetic and/or functional requirements of a new product or modification to an existing product.

'Producer management representative' means the business entity authorised to act on behalf of the producer in relation to product conformance and associated technical and administrative matters.

'Product specifier' means the business entity that engages with the producer for the purposes of developing product design and manufacturing specifications in accordance with conformance, functional and/or aesthetic requirements.

'Recognised Agency for Conformity Evaluation (RACE) ' means a business entity, such as an accredited testing laboratory, ratified as having the appropriate expertise and facilities for evaluation for conformity and/or verification of conformity to determine that the specific product/system as investigated complies with nominated reference criteria.

Examples:  CSIRO-MSE, Office of the Chief Electrical Inspector (Vic.), Testing and Certification Australia (NSW), EMC Technologies (Vic., NSW), Building Research Establishment (UK)

'Recognised Conformity Assessment Body (RCAB) ' means a body which operates conformity assessment schemes of which one, more than one, or all of the designated functional elements of its conformity assessment system are recognised by conformity assessment body.

Examples:  SAI Global (AUS), Underwriters Laboratories (US), FM Approvals (US), Loss Prevention Council Board (UK)

'Reference criteria' means a normative document such as national or international standard, technical specification or other document which has been ratified as suitable for evaluation for conformity of a product to requirements relevant to its intended application.

'Registrant' means the business entity validated and registered under the conformity assessment scheme as the producer, or producer's management representative, of certified products.  The registrant is subject to the Rules Governing the conformity assessment scheme as applicable to the certified products registered under its name.  It is responsible for the payment of fees and charges associated with the maintenance of their product certifications, on-going conformity of the certified products with specified requirements and providing evidence of conformity by the process and in a form as specified and/or deemed necessary by the conformity assessment scheme.

'Relevant articles' means all specimens, documentation and media received for record and/or review, which relate to the identification of a product and its verification of conformity, including reference samples, reports, correspondence,  packaging, writing, get-up, labels, tags, materials and advertisements proposed to be used in connection with the use, sale, supply, distribution or promotion of the products.

'Secondary manufacturing unit (major components)' means the manufacturing unit providing components or processes significant to the production/assembly of a product.

'Specified requirements' means those needs and expectations of the conformity assessment scheme which must be met in order to certify the conformity of a product with specified reference criteria. This includes the activities of review, evaluation, verification and determination in relation to the process and requirements of certification. (AS ISO/IEC 17000-2005, 3.1)

'Statement of conformity' means a certificate of conformity, conclusion to a report or other suitable documentation, stating that an evaluation for conformity and/or verification of conformity of a specific product, as submitted, evaluated and reviewed, complies with the reference criteria.

'Surveillance plan' means a document, prepared by the conformity assessment scheme, which details the post-certification surveillance based upon the relevant requirements of the surveillance schedule(s) as applicable to a specific certified product.

'Surveillance schedule' means a ratified document which details the post-certification surveillance requirements based upon the reference criteria from which verification of conformity is determined for a particular product type.

'Surveillance' means the systematic iteration of conformity assessment activities as a basis for maintaining the validity of a certification. (AS ISO/IEC 17000-2005, 6.1) (ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1991, 13.3.4)

'Tertiary manufacturing unit (minor components)' means the manufacturing unit providing components or processes supplementary to the production/assembly of a product.

'Verification of conformity' means a systematic examination of the extent to which a product, process or service fulfils specified requirements. (ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1991, 13.4)

'Verification plan' means a document prepared by the conformity assessment scheme, outlining the requirements of the verification schedule or schedules as applied to the specific product designations submitted by an application for certification.

'Verification schedule' means a ratified document which details specified requirements for the verification of conformity and certification of a stated product type.