The body needs enough insurance or reserves to meet claims, and enough financial stability to keep certifying through a bad year.
What applies today
The body must have arrangements that cover the liabilities its operations can create. Insurance and reserves are the examples the standard gives, but the test is whether the cover matches the scope and the markets served. The body must also have the financial stability and the resources needed to run its operations. A certificate is a continuing promise, so the question is not only whether the body can pay a claim today but whether it can keep surveillance, decisions and records going for the life of the certificates it has issued.
Why it matters
Accreditation bodies and scheme owners use this clause to test continuity. A body that depends on one large client, or on annual profit to fund the next year, is fragile in a way that affects every certificate holder. The clause does not prescribe a sum or a ratio. It asks for a reasoned position that matches the risks the body has taken on.
The public FDIS contents lists clause 4.3 as Liability and financing. 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 current policy schedule with limits, exclusions and expiry. The party this touches first is The finance director and the board, with the accreditation manager as the user of the evidence.
What the assessor asks for
| Category | Artefact to have ready |
|---|---|
| Insurance | Current policy schedule with limits, exclusions and expiry |
| Reserves | Board-approved reserves policy and the latest balance sheet |
| Scope match | Note that compares the cover with the accreditation scope and markets |
| Continuity | Budget or forecast showing resources for surveillance and records |
One common question. compare the policy limit with the scope and ask what happens if the largest client leaves. A certificate of insurance with no analysis is only half an answer.
Common failures
- The policy excludes the product liability the certificate can create
- Reserves are described as profit retained but never approved as a policy
- The cover was set years ago and the scope has since doubled
Prepare before publication
Ask the broker for a letter that maps the policy to certification activities. Put it with the reserves policy in the same file.
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 4.3 has no separate date.
Cross-references
4.1.1 Legal responsibility · 5.1 Organizational structure and top management · 8.2 General management system documentation
Source
Source for 4.3: ISO/IEC 17065:2012, Clause 4.3, 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.