An independent organization, accredited for the purpose, that audits a management system and issues a certificate when it conforms to a standard.
A certification body, sometimes called a registrar, performs the external audit that leads to certification against standards such as ISO/IEC 27001 or ISO 22301. To issue a recognized certificate it must itself be accredited by a national accreditation body.
The certification body is independent of the organization it audits and of any consultancy that helped build the system, which is what gives the certificate its credibility.
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