ISO 19011:2018

ISO 19011 provides guidelines for planning and carrying out audits, as well as for qualifying and assessing auditors. It is applicable to internal audits (so-called first-party audits), supplier audits (so-called second-party audits), and certification or regulatory audits (third-party audits).

Since it was first published in 2002, ISO 19011 has undergone two revisions, in 2012 and again in 2018, following revisions to the management system standards with which it is associated.

ISO 19011 is not a requirements standard for certification, but provides guidelines on audit principles, audit program management, audit execution, and auditor competence and assessment.

It is designed for different types of users:

• management system auditors ;

• auditor training organizations ;

• organizations and companies to qualify their internal auditors and set up audit programs;

• certification bodies for professional auditors ;

• certification bodies for company management systems (in addition to applicable specific requirements, such as those in ISO/IEC 17021-1 – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems).