Certification audit: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)
A certification audit (French: audit de certification) is the initial audit through which a certification body checks that an SDG management system meets ISO 53001 before a first certification decision. Under ISO/IEC 17021-1 it takes place in two stages: a review of system design, then an evaluation of implementation.
Updated: · edition covered: ISO/UNDP 53001:2026
In an ISO/UNDP 53001 audit
The audit follows a plan sent to the organisation in advance: topics, sites, people to be interviewed and timings. The audit team combines document review, interviews, observation of activities and sampling of records. An opening meeting and a closing meeting frame the visit; at the close, findings are presented and graded.
The audit itself does not settle whether a certificate is granted. It produces a report, and people outside the audit team take the decision on that basis. The certification process page describes the sequence, and ISO 53001 certification sets it within the ISO/UNDP 53001 standard.
Duration and audit team
The audit duration is calculated for each organisation, taking account of its headcount, its sites and the complexity of its activities, and is stated in the quotation. The team is put together so that its combined competence covers the sector and the SDG subjects at stake; an auditor with prior ties to the organisation is left out.
See also
- Stage 1 audit: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)A stage 1 audit (French: *audit d'étape 1*) is the first part of an initial certification audit.
- Stage 2 audit: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)A stage 2 audit (French: *audit d'étape 2*) is the second part of an initial certification audit.
- Certification decision: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)A certification decision (French: *décision de certification*) is the act by which a certification body grants, refuses, maintains, renews, suspends or withdraws an ISO 53001 certificate.
- Certification cycle: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)The certification cycle (French: *cycle de certification*) is the three-year period covered by an ISO 53001 certificate.