ISO type 5 certification
Create certainty and transparency for your customers, your stakeholders and for yourself
As a manufacturer, you are expected to comply with the international and national and sometimes even regional quality and safety standards applicable to your products. Some markets require full product certification, while a declaration supported by a technical compliance file is enough in others. Like many other quality marks, the DEKRA Mark is an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) type 5 certification. This type of certification involves things like an annual factory inspection and sampling.
An ISO type 5 certification shows that your products meet the highest safety and quality standards. As part of the certification process, you (the manufacturer) enter into a contractual agreement with an accredited certification body like DEKRA. This provides you with more than just a product certificate; a DEKRA Mark tells the market that your products meet the latest standards, that DEKRA has inspected them thoroughly and that the factory checks them on an annual basis.
Why choose an ISO type 5 certification?
By choosing ISO type 5 certification, you are complying with regulations and also clearly profiling yourself as a manufacturer that has chosen a proactive approach. In an increasingly competitive market, it is essential to meet basic standards and gain the trust of customers and stakeholders. An ISO type 5 certification like the DEKRA Mark gives your products an extra layer of credibility, which can give you an important edge when closing important deals. It underlines your commitment to safety, quality and transparency.
The role of sustainability and innovation
Sustainability and innovation are key in the world today and ISO type 5 certification has an important role to play in this respect as well. Certification helps validate environmentally-friendly production processes and the use of sustainable materials. It also contributes to accelerated innovation because products are regularly evaluated and improved. So, the quality mark offers certainty but also gives you a competitive advantage in a world that is placing more and more importance on socially responsible business practices.
Difference between the CE mark and ISO type 5 certification
A
CE mark
is mandatory for most products marketed in the EEA. Manufacturers can use the CE declaration to show that their products comply with the relevant European directives. A CE mark is not issued by an independent party but by the manufacturer itself. By contrast, a quality mark or ISO type 5 certification has to be issued by an independent party.
An ISO type 5 certification often involves a voluntary quality mark that shows that a product meets criteria that have been established by an independent party. If an independent party establishes that your products meet all relevant safety and quality standards, this increases the confidence of your customers and stakeholders (like authorities) and your own confidence too. Products without a quality mark aren’t necessarily less safe, but a quality mark and assessment by an independent party generate more confidence than a self-declaration does.
Our approach
A number of inspections and checks will be carried out to ensure your products meet high quality and safety standards. An ISO type 5 certification involves the following: 
- An inspection of the production processes  
- Annual re-assessments
- Extensive testing of safety aspects  
- Check on compliance with legal safety requirements
Ongoing checks and inspections - either via a sample from the open market or from the factory itself - will be carried out to ensure you are able to keep using the DEKRA Mark. The production process is assessed too, usually every year. 
Contact our experts for free advice 
We are always happy to help if you would like to know more about the benefits of ISO type 5 certification for your products! Feel free to contact one of our experts to discuss your business case.