Certification

ISO standards for the language service industry consisting of requirements are intended to allow certification of language service providers of any size, from individual freelance translators to the largest LSPs, in various markets and countries where language services may differ greatly.

As such, ISO standards set requirements for the LSP’s language services to conform to, but do not, and should not, stipulate how those requirements are to be met. It is for the LSP to review their processes, workflows, resources and materials, in order to demonstrate the conformity of the language service concerned to the relevant standards’ requirements at a level commensurate with the size of the organisation.

ISO standards for the language services industry consisting of recommendations (called guidelines or guidance) are not intended for certification and for this reason can have best practice guidance in mind and can include recommendation of "how" things should be done as well as "what" has to be done. These recommendations also establish norms so that claims of having implemented the standard can be made, however, they are simply not designed for and therefore suitable for certification services.