Where the scheme requires surveillance, the body must run it, use the same evaluation, review and decision rules and keep the mark valid.
What applies today
If the scheme requires surveillance, or if the mark rules trigger it, the body must start checks on the products named in the certificate, in line with the scheme. When surveillance uses evaluation, review or decision, the rules for those steps apply. Where the scheme allows a certification mark to stay on a product, its packaging or the information that accompanies it, surveillance must include periodic checks of marked products so that the demonstration of conformity stays valid. Where the mark is used for a process or a service, surveillance must include periodic activity that keeps the demonstration valid.
Why it matters
Surveillance is what separates a certificate from a one-off test report. The clause is deliberately tied to the scheme: not every scheme requires the same activity, but once a mark continues in use, the body must keep checking. The reference back to evaluation, review and decision prevents a body from treating surveillance as a lighter process with no independent decision.
The public FDIS contents lists clause 7.9 as Surveillance. 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 scheme-based plan with cycle, activities, sites and owners. The party this touches first is The surveillance planner and the evaluators who carry out periodic activity.
What the assessor asks for
| Category | Artefact to have ready |
|---|---|
| Surveillance plan | Scheme-based plan with cycle, activities, sites and owners |
| Activity record | Completed surveillance with results and dates |
| Mark checks | Periodic checks of marked products or services |
| Decision | Surveillance decision using the 7.4 to 7.6 steps where applicable |
| Escalation | Record of a missed or late surveillance and the action taken |
One common question. pick a certificate with a mark and ask for the last surveillance. A plan that has slipped by a year without a decision is a finding.
Common failures
- Surveillance is scheduled annually for every scheme regardless of its rules
- Marked products are never sampled from the market
- A missed surveillance is recorded as an administrative delay and never decided
Prepare before publication
List every certificate with surveillance due in the next twelve months. Mark the ones already late and bring them to a decision.
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 7.9 has no separate date.
Cross-references
7.4 Evaluation · 7.5 Review · 7.6 Certification decision · 7.10 Changes affecting certification · 7.11 Termination, reduction, suspension or withdrawal
Source
Source for 7.9: ISO/IEC 17065:2012, Clause 7.9, 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.