The body controls who may use its certificates and marks, and acts when a reference is wrong or misleading.
What applies today
The scheme decides who owns the licence, certificate or mark and how it may be used and displayed, and the body must exercise that control. Control covers more than the artwork. It includes the right to authorise use, the conditions attached to a claim, the way a certified product is described, and the response when someone uses the mark outside those conditions. When documentation or publicity carries an incorrect reference to the scheme, or a misleading use of a licence, certificate or mark, the body has to take suitable action. Depending on the scheme that can mean a correction, a withdrawal, a public statement or legal steps.
Why it matters
A mark is the visible point where a certification system either keeps its value or loses it. If a client can print the mark on an uncertified variant, the certificate stops meaning anything for every other client. The clause also protects the body's own name: a misleading reference can suggest an approval the body never gave.
The public FDIS contents lists clause 4.1.3 as Use of license, certificates and marks of conformity. This site uses the shorter label Use of licence, certificates and marks of conformity for the page. The FDIS requirement wording is not held, so the requirement above is the 2012 text that applies until publication.
Where this clause lands in the revision
This is a general requirement. The public contents keeps its number and title, so the 2012 wording remains the basis of an assessment until the new edition is published. A first artefact an assessor commonly asks for here is register of marks, owners, licence terms and authorised clients. The party this touches first is The mark owner and the communications lead, with the certification manager for enforcement.
What the assessor asks for
| Category | Artefact to have ready |
|---|---|
| Mark register | Register of marks, owners, licence terms and authorised clients |
| Mark guide | Client-facing rules with correct and incorrect examples |
| Monitoring record | Dated sample of client publicity and the findings |
| Enforcement file | Misuse case with the action, correspondence and closure date |
One common question. ask for one misuse case from the last cycle. A register with no enforcement history suggests nobody is looking.
Common failures
- The mark guide is a logo file with no written conditions
- A client keeps using the mark after a scope reduction
- No one owns the monitoring sample, so it happens only after a complaint
Prepare before publication
Take a sample of ten client websites and compare each claim with the certificate scope. Record what you find before the assessor does.
Dates that matter
The public record gives stage 50.20 on 4 August 2026 and voting to 27 October 2026. The planning date, 15 February 2027, is an estimate from that stage and not an ISO date, and clause 4.1.3 has no separate date.
Cross-references
4.1.2 Certification agreement · 4.6 Publicly available information · 7.7 Certification documentation · 7.11 Termination, reduction, suspension or withdrawal
Source
Source for 4.1.3: ISO/IEC 17065:2012, Clause 4.1.3, with the ISO/IEC FDIS 17065 public record. Our statement, not the instrument verbatim; the FDIS wording is not held.
Not legal advice; does not certify. A reading of the requirement and the evidence an assessor commonly samples, not a substitute for the standard or your accreditation body's rules.