If you have just been certified, or you are weighing up certification and wondering what you get to put on your website, the first thing worth knowing is that the logo most people go looking for does not exist.
There is no official ISO 9001 logo
ISO writes the standards. It does not certify anyone against them. ISO's own position is unambiguous: it does not perform certification or issue certificates, and it does not permit anyone to use the ISO logo in connection with certification. The ISO logo is a registered trademark, reserved for ISO's own use.
So there is no official ISO 9001 logo, no official ISO 27001 logo, and no official ISO 45001 badge sitting on a website somewhere waiting to be downloaded. Where one is offered, it is not what it claims to be.
What you display is your certification body's mark
ISO's own guidance is to contact the certification body that issued your certificate. That is the right answer, and it is how it works in practice. When we complete an audit and issue a certificate, we issue certification marks alongside it, and our certified clients are free to use them on their website, email signatures, tenders and printed material.
Every certification body issues its own, and they will not look the same.
A statement about certification
Once certified you can also state that your organisation is certified to ISO 9001. Often the word 'registered' is used instead of certification and this is acceptable. It means the same thing. It is also important that any statement about certification is accurate: the right standard, and the scope your certificate actually covers. A certificate covering one site or one activity does not certify the whole group, and what is actually covered will be stated on the certificate - location and scope.
Where you can and cannot put the mark
What you can put a mark on depends on which route your certificate came from.
If it comes from a UKAS-accredited body, the UKAS symbol alongside it carries published conditions of use, and they are more restrictive than most people expect. UKAS state that the symbol must not be displayed on any vehicle, or on buildings and flags. It must not go on a product, on anything attached to one, or on primary packaging. Certification symbols must not appear on reports or certificates issued by laboratories, inspection bodies or proficiency testing providers. Stationery, letterheads, and certificates and reports within the scope of the accreditation are fine.
Our marks work differently, because they are ours to license rather than UKAS's. isoassured certified clients can use them without restriction: vehicles, signage, uniforms, packaging, paperwork, tenders and the website.
Whichever mark you hold, use it only while your certificate is current, and check what your certification body permits rather than assuming.
Which route do you need?
We are an independent certification body, and much of our work is supporting clients to UKAS-accredited certification through third-party UKAS certification bodies - we support both routes. We are not UKAS accredited ourselves, and we say so plainly.
For many organisations the independent route is the proportionate choice, and it is usually faster and lower cost. UKAS-accredited certification is the right answer when a customer, a tender or a regulator specifically requires it. The honest question is not which route is better, but which one you actually need.
Our certification marks are on the ISO certification logos page, and our prices are published in full on the certification costs page.