Action required

Starting on March 7th, 2022 SCC will begin carrying out transition assessments for ISO 50003:2021, and any new applications for EnMS accreditation needed to be assessed against ISO 50003:2021.

SCC is transitioning its certification bodies based on IAF Mandatory Document 24:2021-Transition requirements for ISO 50003:2021 (PDF), published by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) on December 8, 2021. 

• ISO 50003:2021 will replace ISO 50003:2014 with a transition period of 2 ½ years (30 months) starting on 2021-05-11, the standard’s publication date.
• All SCC accredited Certification Bodies (CBs) shall complete the transition to ISO 50003:2021 by 2023-11-30.
• After its successful transition to the new ISO 50003, a CB shall use ISO 50003:2021 for all initial clients.
• A CB shall only use the new version ISO 50003 for all its clients by 2023-11-30.
   

Affected customers

For Management Systems Accreditation Program (MSAP) existing customers and new applicants who certify to ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems (EnMS).

Background

In May of 2021, ISO issued a revised version of ISO 50003 that replaces the 2014 version.

The standard was recently updated to align with the harmonized approach used for all ISO management systems. The improvements include clarifying audit day calculations, application of requirements to multi-site organizations, and technical competency for those associated with EnMS audits. ISO 50003 is used to enhance ISO/IEC 17021-1 in auditing ISO 50001. 

ISO 50003 is one of many standards in ISO’s energy management system series designed to complement and support ISO 50001, Energy management systems – Requirements with guidance for use. SCC uses this international standard for its accreditation program to ensure consistency, harmonization and support of the “one standard, one test” organizational priority. 

New requirements

The main changes  indicated in ISO 50003:2021 include, but are not limited to those listed in the summary of key changes referenced in IAF MD 24:2021 (PDF), section 2: Summary of Key changes. For reference, they are as follows: 

• the definitions have been updated to include the audit time, the duration of the audit and terms related to multi-site audits;
• the phrase “maintained documented information” has been used to represent procedures, work instructions or other forms of documents that provide the who, what, when, how or why information;
• the phrase “retained documented information” or “record of audit evidence” has been used to represent records that demonstrate or provide evidence of the execution of a requirement;
• the structure has been updated to align with ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015;
• the phrase “man-days” has been changed to “audit days”;
• for audit day calculations, the number of energy types have been changed to those that comprise at least 80% of total consumption;
• the weighted values for complexity have been modified;
• the sampling requirements for multi-site EnMS have been updated;
• the use of IAF MD documents as they relate to Annexes A and B has been clarified;
• the information on EnMS effective personnel has been clarified in A.2;
• Tables A.3 and A.4 have been modified from audit duration to audit time;
• technical areas have been removed and requirements for technical competency added; and
• related to energy performance improvement the following have changed: 

a) The definition in 3.6 of ISO 50003:2014 for “Energy performance improvement” has been removed, but the term is defined in ISO 50001 which is a normative reference 
b) For surveillance audits the focus has switched for an organization to be required to demonstrate “implementation of actions for energy performance improvement” rather than to demonstrate “achievement of energy performance improvement”.

Deadline

SCC accredited CBs and new applicants shall complete the transition for ISO 50003:2021 by 2023-11-30.

Questions?

Please contact Abdel Kassou, Manager, Compliance and Assessment Services, at abdel.kassou@scc.ca or +1 613 238 3222 ext. 443 for more information