IATF 16949 Certification Mark

• The customer has submitted to voluntary assessment (audit) according to defined criteria (certification standard).
• A certificate and/or the authorisation to use a certification mark is only issued if the assessment (audit) does not reveal any major nonconformities with the requirements of the certification standard.
• The certificates and/or certification marks are valid for a restricted period of time. Interested parties can check the validity of individual certificates in the  IATF database www.iatf-customerportal.org
• To maintain certificate validity, the certificate holder must annually complete an announced audit with a positive result. Intervals of 6 or 9 months are possible, if the number of audits is increased within a three-year cycle.

Independent and qualified experts (auditors) apply the following auditing techniques:

• Readiness review
  Evaluation of the organisation’s requirements and/or documentation (e.g. performance data from the last 12 months) to ensure the systematic control of all processes relevant for quality management and required by this international standard.
  
  
• On-site-audit
  Verification, in the form of interviews and on-site inspection at the customer's premises, that the above requirements are effectively implemented in practice. Random on-site checks of processes based on records, such as available measurement results, minutes of meetings, training and qualification records, complaints management and records related to defined objectives and the resulting improvement projects.

• Certification according to IATF 16949 does not constitute product certification. Certification thus does not provide any direct statements on the quality of a product or service of the certified customer. Certification according to IATF 16949 does not mean that the company manufactures products or provides services of higher quality.
• Certification according to IATF 16949 does not ensure in each specific case that a product or service complies with customer requirements, even though this is one of the key objectives of the quality management system.