NDT Procedures for ISO/IEC 17020

ISO/IEC 17020 names this requirement as "Facilities and equipment records including calibration and traceability (6.2), and control of externally provided products and services including subcontracted NDT (6.3)". The Level III who approves them owns it, and a contracted Level III can author and sign it.

The finding auditors record against this document is: Subcontracted NDT or subcontracted calibration not controlled as an externally provided service (6.3). ISO/IEC 17020 contains requirements for the competence and impartiality of bodies performing inspection and for the consistent operation of their inspection activities. The third edition, ISO/IEC 17020:2026, was published in March 2026 and cancels and replaces the 2012 second edition. The headline change for an inspection firm is that the categorisation of independence collapses from types A, B and C to type A and type non-A, with the independence requirements sitting in normative Annex A and impartiality requirements applying equally to both types. The edition also adds definitions of item and client, adds a subclause on control of data and information and on actions to address risks and opportunities, incorporates the common CASCO elements, and replaces some prescriptive requirements with performance-based ones.

Source: ISO/IEC 17020:2026 itself, read from the ISO-published preview: title page (third edition, 2026-03), Foreword (prepared by CASCO with CEN/CLC/JTC 1; cancels and replaces the second edition ISO/IEC 17020:2012; the listed main changes including type A / type non-A, the new item and client definitions, the new subclause on control of data and information and on actions to address risks and opportunities, the CASCO common elements, risk-based thinking and greater flexibility), Introduction (type A and type non-A reflect the level of independence; impartiality requirements apply equally to both), Clause 1 Scope, Clause 2 normative reference to ISO/IEC 17000:2020, Clause 3 definitions 3.1–3.8, Clause 4.1 and 4.2 verbatim, and the full table of contents including normative Annex A on independence requirements. Publication date: the standard's own title page gives 2026-03; European Accreditation states 31 March 2026 while ANAB's blog and UKAS's technical bulletin work from 27 March 2026 — the month is certain, the day is not, so treat 'March 2026' as the verified figure. Transition: three years from publication per an ILAC General Assembly resolution, with UKAS and ANAB citing 27 March 2029. Global ACI: ILAC's and IAF's own sites confirm Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated was registered as an Incorporated Society on 6 December 2024 and functions as a complete entity from 1 January 2026, with the ILAC MRA Mark transferred and the IAF MLA Mark licensed to it. A2LA R212, Specific Requirements — Nondestructive Testing Laboratory Accreditation Program, publication date 10 September 2025, read in full: general criteria are ISO/IEC 17025 for testing laboratories and ISO/IEC 17020 for inspection bodies; the nine technologies in scope; scope breakdown conventions. ANAB's NDE inspection body programme page (anab.ansi.org/accreditation/nde). IAS inspection agency accreditation to ISO/IEC 17020 (iasonline.org). Checked August 2026.

NDT Procedures under ISO/IEC 17020 — owner, content and how it is tested
Item	What applies	Why it matters
Regime	ISO/IEC 17020, Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies performing inspection	Enforced by Developed by the ISO Committee on Conformity Assessment (CASCO) in collaboration with CEN/CLC/JTC 1. Enforced by accreditation bodies — in the United States by ANAB (which runs a dedicated NDE inspection body programme), A2LA (which covers NDT under both ISO/IEC 17020 and ISO/IEC 17025), IAS and PJLA. Since 1 January 2026 those bodies operate under the Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated (Global ACI) MRA, which replaced the separate ILAC MRA and IAF MLA when ILAC and IAF were wound up.
Document	NDT Procedures	the method-specific instructions technicians actually work to, and the approval that makes them valid
Owner	the Level III who approves them	The signature an auditor traces back
Where it is checked	Accreditation decision and issue of the scope of accreditation, with methods broken down to the most descriptive definition.	Usually against a sampled job, not in isolation
Common failure	Independence type asserted without an Annex A justification that matches actual ownership, group companies and commercial relationships — the type A / type non-A change makes previously comfortable type B and C claims worth re-arguing	The gap between the manual and the job file

What must a ndt procedures contain under ISO/IEC 17020?

It has to satisfy ISO/IEC 17020 as Developed by the ISO Committee on Conformity Assessment (CASCO) in collaboration with CEN/CLC/JTC 1. Enforced by accreditation bodies — in the United States by ANAB (which runs a dedicated NDE inspection body programme), A2LA (which covers NDT under both ISO/IEC 17020 and ISO/IEC 17025), IAS and PJLA. Since 1 January 2026 those bodies operate under the Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated (Global ACI) MRA, which replaced the separate ILAC MRA and IAF MLA when ILAC and IAF were wound up. enforces it: the method-specific instructions technicians actually work to, and the approval that makes them valid. The test is not completeness on paper but traceability — an auditor picks a finished job and works backwards to this document, so anything it claims must be demonstrable on that job.

Who signs the ndt procedures for ISO/IEC 17020?

The Level III who approves them. Because this regime accepts employer-based certification, that role can be filled by a contracted Level III rather than a staff appointment, provided they are qualified in the methods they sign for.

How does a ISO/IEC 17020 auditor test this document?

By sampling. They take a completed job, find the technicians and equipment used, and trace each back through this document to the evidence behind it. A document that reads well but cannot survive that trace is the most common finding across every regime, not just this one.

How long must ISO/IEC 17020 records be kept?

ISO/IEC 17020 sets no accreditation interval of its own — the accreditation body's cycle governs, with surveillance assessments between reassessments. What is fixed is the edition deadline. Accreditation bodies have announced a three-year transition from the publication of ISO/IEC 17020:2026, with UKAS and ANAB citing 27 March 2029 as the point after which only accreditation to the 2026 edition is recognised. Existing ISO/IEC 17020:2012-based accreditations remain valid until then, and the main work is re-justifying independence under the type A / type non-A model and evidencing ongoing impartiality risk monitoring. Retention is set by the regime and by the client contract above it, and the longer of the two governs. Firms that set one retention period for everything and document it fare better at audit than firms tracking different periods per record type and losing track.

Does a generic template satisfy ISO/IEC 17020?

No. A downloaded template describes a generic firm, and the first question an auditor asks is whether the document describes THIS firm — its methods, its equipment, its people, its actual workflow. Templates are a starting structure; the content has to be the firm's own or the trace fails immediately.

What happens if this document is missing at a ISO/IEC 17020 audit?

It is a finding, and depending on the regime it can suspend the certificate rather than merely generate a corrective action. The related finding auditors record most often is: Independence type asserted without an Annex A justification that matches actual ownership, group companies and commercial relationships — the type A / type non-A change makes previously comfortable type B and C claims worth re-arguing

Where this sits in the ISO/IEC 17020 evidence pack

Management system documentation under Clause 8 — policies and responsibilities, documented information, records control
Independence declaration and type A / type non-A justification against normative Annex A, supported by the actual ownership and commercial relationships
Impartiality risk register with evidence of ongoing monitoring of activities and of personnel relationships (4.1.3), and top management commitment to impartiality (4.1.5)
Legally enforceable confidentiality commitments extending to employees, contractors, committee members and anyone acting on the body's behalf (4.2.1, 4.2.4)
Legal entity evidence and arrangements covering liabilities arising from operations (5.2)
Personnel competence criteria, authorisation records, training and ongoing monitoring records (6.1)
Facilities and equipment records including calibration and traceability (6.2), and control of externally provided products and services including subcontracted NDT (6.3)
Inspection methods and procedures, inspection records, and inspection reports or inspection certificates (7.2, 7.4, 7.6)
Contract review records and control of data and information (7.1, 7.5)
Appeals and complaints registers, internal audit records, management review records and corrective action records (7.7, 7.8, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7)

Personnel certification context

ISO/IEC 17020 names no personnel certification scheme. Clause 6.1 requires the body to define competence criteria and to select, train, authorise and monitor personnel against them; the inspection scheme or the client's specification decides what evidence counts, and Clause 3.3 notes that an inspection scheme can specify independence requirements. In most industrial NDT work an employer-based SNT-TC-1A or CP-189 programme satisfies clause 6.1, which means an outsourced Level III can hold the technical authority — writing competence criteria, approving procedures, signing qualifications. Where the scheme itself demands ISO 9712 certificates, clause 6.1 inherits that requirement and the outsourced Level III can no longer substitute for it.