ISO certified and ISO compliant

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Do these two means the same thing? What you think? Hmmm…I’ll give you few seconds to think and be sure to use your mind before reading the next paragraph.

Congratulations! You are now reading this line, which means you use your mind and think about the question above. If your answer is “yes they are the same” sorry but they are not. Let’s see the differences between an ISO certified company (like PAPTI) and ISO compliant entities.

Certification and Compliance

Sounds familiar but they have different meanings. Certification means that the company’s management system has actually been certified to be in conformance (compliance) with all the requirements of the standard. It is a proof of a basic compliance claim, much likely similar to a diploma, stamp or certificate. While compliance means that the company’s management system fully adheres to the requirement of standard.

The company may have a certificate hanging on the wall that says they are compliant, but being certified must be seen a level above being compliant. Why? Simply because, a certification is provided by a third-party entity! If you want to know what you need for certification, you can check them out here.



Let’s ask Miriam-Webster about the definition of these words

Certification – the act of making something official; official approval to do something professionally of legally

Compliance – the act or process of doing what you have been asked or ordered to do; the act or process of complying.

Be Wise

When a company claims compliance, it is likely a self-claim. Third-party could verify the company’s claim if they want to be audited to get that certification. For example, if the company’s statement is like “Company Solutions has deemed our quality management system to be in compliance with ISO 9001:2008 standard", it is clear that the company is not certified.



Clearly we can say that certification is the higher level of being compliant, to a given set of standards. Not all compliant companies are certified. It does not mean that if you are compliant, you are certified. Remember that certifications are given by third-party entities that are recognized by ISO. You can check if the ISO certification is valid by following these steps.