The body must collect everything the scheme needs before it can plan the certification, including sites, processes, outsourcing and legal duties.
What applies today
On application the body must obtain all the information needed to complete the certification process under the relevant scheme. The standard gives examples rather than a closed list: the product to be certified; the standards or other normative documents the client seeks certification against; the client's general features, including name, physical addresses, significant process and operational aspects where the scheme requires them, and relevant legal obligations; general information about the client's activities, human and technical resources, laboratories or inspection facilities and its position in a larger corporation; information about outsourced processes that affect conformity, and any separate legal entity that produces the certified product, with contractual controls where surveillance needs them; and any other information the scheme requires, such as production locations and contacts. The information can be collected through a form or another mechanism and can be gathered with or separate from the certification agreement. An application to extend scope can involve similar products or different locations.
Why it matters
A weak application is the root of many later defects. If the body does not know about a production site, an outsourced process or a separate legal entity at intake, the evaluation plan will miss it and the certificate will overstate what was assessed. The clause does not prescribe one form. It requires the body to know what its scheme needs and to collect it before committing.
The public FDIS contents lists clause 7.2 as Application. 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 process clause. The public record confirms the number and title, and the process as described today is what an assessment uses until publication. A first artefact an assessor commonly asks for here is completed application with product, documents, sites, processes and entities. The party this touches first is The intake team and the certification manager who decide whether the application can proceed.
What the assessor asks for
| Category | Artefact to have ready |
|---|---|
| Application | Completed application with product, documents, sites, processes and entities |
| Scheme checklist | Checklist showing every scheme information requirement was asked |
| Entity map | Map of legal entities and outsourced processes affecting conformity |
| Revision record | Dated changes to the application and who approved them |
One common question. compare the application with the certificate scope and the surveillance plan. A site that appears in neither is a scope defect.
Common failures
- The form asks for one address and not the production sites
- Outsourced processes are discovered during the evaluation
- A separate legal entity produces the product but is not named
Prepare before publication
Take five live clients and compare the application with the certificate and the last surveillance report. Note every difference.
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 7.2 has no separate date.
Cross-references
7.1 General process requirements · 7.3 Application review · 7.4 Evaluation · 7.9 Surveillance
Source
Source for 7.2: ISO/IEC 17065:2012, Clause 7.2, 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.