The Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE) is now offering organizations that currently have National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) accreditation — or are trying to gain certification — the opportunity to also become accredited to ISO 17024 — an international standard for the operation of personnel certification programs.

The ICE is a professional membership association that provides education, networking, and other resources for the credentialing industry.

The new program relates to ISO/IEC 17024:2012 conformity assessment — general requirements for bodies operation certification of persons — which sets out principles and requirements for a body certifying persons against specific requirements, and includes the development and maintenance of a certification scheme for persons.

The introduction of the program follows a successful pilot that the ICE held with three of its member organizations in 2014-2015.

Through a partnership with the International Accreditation Service, organizations with NCCA accredited programs, or those looking to apply for dual accreditation, are now able to take advantage of efficiencies as the result of both standards having some shared requirements.

Other advantages include:

• The online system is designed to automatically transfer details from the NCCA application that fully or partially satisfy the requirements of ISO 17024.
• The online application process allows for efficient review, reduction of duplication, automated notifications, and synchronized renewal cycles.

ICE has created a number of resources for those interested in applying for ISO 17024 accreditation. Click here to learn more.