When the body performs evaluation itself or through resources it controls, that work must meet the relevant conformity assessment standard.
What applies today
Where the body evaluates with its own resources, or through other resources it directly controls, it must satisfy the relevant international standards where they apply and any other documents the scheme names. Testing must meet ISO/IEC 17025, inspection must meet ISO/IEC 17020, and management system auditing must meet ISO/IEC 17021. The impartiality requirements for evaluation personnel in those standards always apply. Some requirements can be not applicable, for example where the body has the expertise to use an external result, where its control over the testing or inspection is limited, or where another route gives the same assurance, or the point is not needed for confidence in the decision.
Why it matters
A product certification body often contains or controls a laboratory. The clause prevents the body from treating that laboratory as a private service that need not meet the standard everyone else meets. The reference to the three standards is deliberate: the type of evaluation decides which competence and impartiality regime applies. The not-applicable route is narrow and must be justified, not assumed.
The public FDIS contents lists clause 6.2.1 as Internal resources. 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 resource clause, and the public contents adds titled subclauses around it. The 2012 requirement remains the basis of an assessment until publication. A first artefact an assessor commonly asks for here is evaluation activity mapped to iso/iec 17025, 17020 or 17021. The party this touches first is The laboratory, inspection or audit function inside the body, and the manager who owns it.
What the assessor asks for
| Category | Artefact to have ready |
|---|---|
| Activity map | Evaluation activity mapped to ISO/IEC 17025, 17020 or 17021 |
| Recognition | Accreditation or recognition evidence for the in-house resource |
| Not applicable | Justification for each requirement treated as not applicable |
| Impartiality | Evidence that evaluation personnel meet the relevant impartiality rules |
One common question. ask which standard applies to each evaluation method and look for the recognition behind it. An in-house lab with no scope evidence is a direct finding.
Common failures
- The in-house laboratory is treated as a support service and not accredited
- The not-applicable list has no reasons
- Evaluation staff are not screened for impartiality because they are employees
Prepare before publication
List every evaluation method and write the standard and the evidence next to it. Any blank is a transition action.
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 6.2.1 has no separate date.
Cross-references
6.2.2 External resources (outsourcing) · 7.4 Evaluation · 4.2 Management of impartiality
Source
Source for 6.2.1: ISO/IEC 17065:2012, Clause 6.2.1, 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.