CASCO

Objectives and structure of CASCO

ISO/CASCO is ISO's policy development committee on conformity assessment, reporting to the ISO Council. CASCO, as it is commonly referred to, was established in 1970 to study means of conformity assessment, prepare documents concerning the practice and operation of conformity assessment, and to promote their use.

CASCO's terms of reference and objectives are to:
Study means of assessing the conformity of products, processes, services and management systems to appropriate standards or other technical specifications
Prepare standards and guides relating to the practice of testing, inspection and certification of products, processes and services, and to the assessment of management systems, testing laboratories, inspection, certification and accreditation bodies, and their operation and acceptance
Promote mutual recognition and acceptance of national and regional conformity assessment systems, and the appropriate use of International Standards for testing, inspection, certification, assessment and related purposes.

CASCO membership is open to all ISO member bodies as participating (P) or observer (O) members, with both developing and industrialized countries well represented.

CASCO also assists in fulfilling objective 6 of the ISO Strategic Plan 2005-2010: Being the recognized provider of International Standards and guides relating to conformity assessment.

CASCO has a structure that reflects it's various roles of policy development, writing of technical documents, promotion of those documents and monitoring market feedback on the use of those documents. A continual improvement cycle is in place to ensure that CASCO provides globally relevant documents that reflect modern conformity assessment practice.

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All members of IAF are committed to adopt policies and procedures in their own operations which facilitate trade, in conformity with the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.
Both accreditation body and certification / registration body members are committed to base their own conformity assessment procedures upon standards or guides developed by ISO/CASCO, and adopted in accordance with ISO/IEC rules.

Where members of IAF provide a conformity assessment service to meet market needs, but ISO/IEC standards or guides developed by ISO/CASCO, and adopted in accordance with ISO/IEC rules are not available for that service, the members commit themselves to ensure that the standards they use are developed in accordance with the principles in Articles 5 & 6 on Conformity Assessment (consensus driven open process) of the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.

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