Your quality management system has been recommended for certification by your DNV lead auditor and has been approved by DNV management. You are justifiably proud of reaching this milestone in your company's history. Along with displaying the certificates presented by DNV Certification, you also want to announce your achievement to the world.

We at DNV encourage you to advertise your certification. Most of our clients include their ISO certification status on almost all of their promotional material. Along with your certificate, you also receive camera ready artwork of the certification marks and copies of the rules for use of the mark. The "certification mark" in this article refers to the combined Accreditation Body and DNV logos.

As DNV holds 21 accreditations throughout the world, and each Accreditation Body has its own rules for use of the certification mark, we will only be discussing the use of the certification mark with respect to the two most popular accredited certifications issued by DNV in the United States. These are the Nation Accreditation Board (ANAB) and the Dutch Council for Accreditation (RvA).

During the course of each periodic audit, the DNV auditor will address your use of the certification mark to ensure that it is being used in accordance with the Accreditation Body rules, and that there is no misuse of the certification mark.  Some of the more common examples of incorrect usage of the certification mark are described below. 

First of all, one must have a quality management system that is maintained and the certification be in good standing in order to use the certification mark. So as they say "We won't go there."

It seems most problems arise with respect to the certification mark format, i.e. color and size. It is essential that the certification mark be clearly legible. The minimum size for the ANAB mark is 10 millimeters, and for the RvA mark, it is 7 millimeters. The certification mark cannot be larger than your own company logo. The configuration of some company logos sometimes makes it difficult to determine what to measure in order to compare your logo size with the certification mark.  A good rule of thumb to follow is that at least one dimension of your logo should be larger than the certification mark.  Keep in mind, the ANAB and/or RvA logo’s cannot be used stand alone, they must be used in conjunction with the DNV logo. 

The artwork you receive from DNV may be enlarged or shrunk (as long as the legibility and minimum sizes are maintained). However, reconfiguring the artwork will in most cases result in improper usage of the mark. If you have any questions as to whether your proposed use of the certification mark on an advertisement, brochure or other promotional literature is in compliance with the rules, please send us a sample for review.

Two other common examples of misuse include using the certification mark on a document that includes the locations of facilities that are not certified and the use of the certification mark on a "statement of product conformity." If you have a brochure listing several of your locations and some of these are not certified, then the brochure must clearly state that the ISO 9000 certification only applies to the appropriate facility. Documents such as Certificates of Conformity, Test or Inspection Reports, Calibration Certificates, etc., may not bear the certification mark.

As with any issues having to do with your ISO 9000 certification, if you have any questions, please feel free to discuss these with your lead auditor, DNV district manager or our technical department in Houston.

Related Sites
ISO web site 
(See the brochure "Publicizing your ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 certification")