How to choose a certification body in Georgia: accreditation, IAF and red flags

The value of an ISO certificate depends almost entirely on who issued it and under which accreditation. A few checks before signing protect you from paying for a certificate your clients will not accept.

Certification and accreditation are different things

A certification body audits your management system and issues the certificate. An accreditation body assesses the certification body, checking its competence, impartiality and audit methods against ISO/IEC 17021-1 and the sector rules for each standard. Without accreditation, a certificate is only the certification body's own statement.

International recognition comes from agreements between accreditation bodies. Until the end of 2025 this was the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (IAF MLA). From 1 January 2026 IAF and ILAC were replaced by Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated (Global ACI), and the existing IAF MLA recognition was carried into the new arrangement without interruption. You will still see the IAF MLA mark on many certificates during the transition period.

The Georgian accreditation body

Georgia's national accreditation body is the Georgian Accreditation Center (GAC), a legal entity of public law under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. GAC holds international recognition through European co-operation for Accreditation and the IAF arrangement for several activities, including testing and calibration laboratories, inspection bodies, product certification and certification of persons. Recognition is granted activity by activity. Before relying on a national accreditation for management system certification, check whether the accreditation body's current international recognition covers management systems (ISO/IEC 17021-1) for that standard.

A certificate issued in Georgia under the accreditation of a foreign body, for example a European, British or American one, is fully valid if that body is a signatory for the relevant scope. What matters is the scope of recognition, not the country.

Five checks before you sign

Accreditation certificate and scope. Ask for the certification body's accreditation certificate and its scope annex. The standard you need, for example ISO/IEC 27001 or ISO 45001, and your industry sector must be listed.
Accreditation body status. Check that the accreditation body is a signatory for management systems certification on the IAF or Global ACI website.
Verifiability. Ask whether certificates are uploaded to IAF CertSearch, the global database of accredited certifications. Clients and procurement officers increasingly check there.
Audit time. Ask how many audit days are planned for stage 1, stage 2 and each surveillance audit, and on what basis. Accredited bodies calculate minimum audit time from headcount and complexity.
Auditor competence and language. Who will audit you, in which language, and do they have experience in your sector?

Red flags

A certificate promised within days, without a stage 1 and stage 2 audit.
Accreditation by an organisation that is not a signatory of the IAF MLA or Global ACI arrangement. Names that sound international are not proof.
A price quoted per certificate rather than per audit day, or a quote far below others for the same scope.
No surveillance audits in years two and three.
The same organisation offers to write your documents and then certify you. ISO/IEC 17021-1 does not allow a certification body to certify a system it helped build, because this destroys impartiality.
The certificate cannot be verified on the certification body's website or in IAF CertSearch.
Pressure to sign quickly or to pay in full before the audit is planned.

Questions specific to Georgia

If you bid in public procurement, check the tender documents for any requirement on accreditation. If you export, ask your buyer which certification bodies it accepts; some EU retailers and industrial buyers keep lists. If you work with a foreign parent company, a group-wide certification body may be required.

BALTUM's role

BALTUM prepares organisations for certification: gap assessment, documentation, training, internal audit and audit support. We do not issue certificates. We work with certification bodies accredited by IAF MLA signatories and can help you compare offers, check scopes and plan audit dates. Our article on what drives the cost of ISO 27001 explains how audit days are calculated. For the standards themselves, see ISO 27001 and ISO 9001.

If you would like a second opinion on a certification offer, send it through the form on this site or to info@baltum.org.

Frequently asked questions

Is a certificate under foreign accreditation valid in Georgia?

Yes, if the accreditation body is a signatory of the international recognition arrangement for that management system standard. Check the scope on the IAF or Global ACI website and verify the certificate in IAF CertSearch.

What changed for accreditation in 2026?

IAF and ILAC were replaced by Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated from 1 January 2026. Existing recognition continued, and the IAF MLA mark may still be used during the transition.