Validation and Verification Accreditations

ISO/IEC 17029 sets general principles and requirements for validation and verification bodies providing assurance on the correctness of statements or claims. This means that the accuracy of claims made by companies and organizations are held to standards just as products and services are held to quality standards.

There has been an increase in the type and volume of bold statements and claims, particularly related to sustainability. ANAB ISO/IEC 17029 accreditation provides for competent and independent third-parties to evaluate the validity of claims and to ensure that claims are not empty or exaggerated, but factual.

ISO/IEC 17029 requires the identification of the object of validation and/or verification (“the claim”) as well as the applicable validation and/or verification (the “program”).

Requirements for Validation and Verification Bodies (V/VBs) and the validation and verification process are not new.  In 2006 the ISO Greenhouse Gas series of standards were published and were specific to GHG emissions disclosure to support action on global climate change.  ISO/IEC 17029 expands this to other types of validation and verification and provides a uniform basis for the validation and verification of statements and reports of all kinds.  These include statements on the environmental performance of products and organization, sustainability reports, comparative statements, ethical statements and more.

ANAB offers accreditation against ISO/IEC 17029 and ISO 14065 for Greenhouse Gas validation and verification and is in the process of adding new validation and verification programs.

ISO 14065 defines requirements for bodies that validate and verify environmental information statements. Under the environmental information validation/verification program ANAB currently accredits organizations active in greenhouse gas emissions disclosure.

What is the difference between validation and verification?

Validation involves statements and data that relate to the future. This involves forecast information or data that relate to an intended application.  Validation is a process where the V/VB provides assurance on the reasonableness of the assumptions, limitations, and methods used to forecast information.

For example: A company claims that use of a new water system at a mill that produces recycled containerboard will result in a 75 percent reduction in water demand at the mill.  Such a claim can be validated if models can provide that the predicted reduction is plausible.

Verification is a process where a verification body assesses an organization’s, product’s, or project’s claim against defined criteria.  Verification provides assurance on results that have already been achieved.

Example: A company claims that its mill has reduced water consumption by 75 percent compared to the previous year.  Verification can be provided because the claim is based on already achieved results.