Inspection bodies

Inspection asks whether an examined object meets defined requirements, sometimes using professional judgment. The object may be equipment, an installation, a process or a service. That makes the inspection criteria, stage and purpose essential to interpreting the result. An in-service equipment inspection addresses a different question from a factory test on a sample. ISO/IEC 17020 concerns the body performing inspection; it does not supply every technical acceptance criterion for the things that body examines.

The competence standard sits beside the inspection method, contract and any statutory scheme. Its subject is the inspector’s organization and consistent operation, including impartiality. A laboratory standard has a different primary activity, and a product certification standard addresses a different attestation process. One organization may provide several services, but that does not erase the distinction. The specific reference identity and 2026 publication are supported by ISO Open Data, rather than inferred from an old accreditation certificate.

The selected record is ISO/IEC 17020:2026 (edition 3, published 2026-03-27). It was checked on 19 October 2026 in ISO Open Data. The 2026 publication is recorded here as an international standard. An inspection body’s accreditation or a statutory program may have its own transition arrangements. Those arrangements require separate evidence; a publication date alone does not establish when every body must change its assessment basis.

At commissioning, an owner may ask an inspection body to examine installed lifting equipment. The assignment needs to identify the equipment, installation condition, applicable requirements and any measurements or documents that form part of the examination. Access limitations and incomplete records affect the conclusion. The resulting report becomes usable when the owner can see what was examined, where the criteria came from and whether the conclusion concerns the whole installation or only the elements available during the visit.

An inspection can be required by a regulator, a contract or an owner’s maintenance program. These routes can impose different qualifications, reporting obligations and acceptance criteria. Accreditation to a competence standard does not by itself appoint a body to every statutory function. The Global ACI directory provides an entry to recognition information; the receiving authority or scheme remains the source for any additional appointment and acceptance conditions. A report’s legal purpose must therefore be identified explicitly.

Identify the inspected object, location and relevant date. Does the report distinguish direct observations from reviewed records and results supplied by others? Are inaccessible parts, limitations and departures from the agreed method recorded? Is the inspector’s scope suitable for this equipment and activity? Where professional judgment is used, can a technical reader understand its basis? These questions are especially important when a brief pass statement is being used to support continued operation of equipment that has since been modified.

An inspection report is tied to an object and its condition at the time examined. It does not guarantee that later changes, deterioration or different operating conditions remain acceptable. Nor does inspection body competence establish conformity with criteria that were outside the assignment. The public information supports the distinction between the body, its scope and the technical inspection. This reference does not reproduce ISO/IEC 17020 or make an accreditation or statutory authorization decision about any service provider.

The conformity assessment vocabulary distinguishes examination, testing and certification. Testing and calibration laboratories covers measurements that may support an inspection, while accreditation bodies explains scope oversight. These connections are useful when a purchaser receives a combined inspection and test package and needs to identify which organization performed each activity and what conclusion each record supports.

Official sources were checked on 19 October 2026. Publication identifiers, editions and dates use ISO’s deliverables metadata under ODC Attribution License 1.0, with ISO credited as its source. Use the body’s own accreditation scope for the inspection activity and location. The global recognition directory identifies accreditation bodies; it does not itself verify every inspection report. The full competence standard remains available from its publishers. A correction request can identify a disputed statement, the document and supporting official evidence.