The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is presently providing assistance to the Institute of Standards of Cambodia (ISC) to introduce a new product certification scheme conforming to the requirements of the ISO/IEC Guide 65. This new ‘Product Certification’ scheme was launched in October 2004 and the ISC is presently engaged in promoting this new scheme among the industries.        

Product Certification Scheme
 The ISC ‘Product Certification’ scheme is based on the ISO/IEC Guide 28 which provides rules for a third party certification system of determining conformity with product standards through testing and assessment of the factory quality management system.    

Types of Licensing
ISC offers 2 types of licensing as follows: 
License for products related to health and safety conforming with mandatory standards. 
Licence for products conforming with voluntary standards.      

Prerequisites for grant of License   
For obtaining the ISC Certification mark an application has to be filed in the ISC prescribed application form for a product covered within the purview of a given Cambodian standard. The following additional documents are required to be submitted with the application form:   
- Location map of the factory and factory layout 
- Documentation approving the premises for manufacture 
- List of manufacturing equipment and testing facilities available 
- Scheme of testing and inspection in use, or any proposed to be used, together with an undertaking to follow the scheme approved by ISC after grant of licence    
- A flowchart indicating the sequence of production.      

Registration and pre-grant of License
If application is found complete in all respects it is recorded and assigned a registration number and preliminary inspections are carried out during which the Scheme of Inspection and Testing (STI) are discussed. The STI specifies controls over the production process, markings to be applied, levels of control to be applied, frequency of sampling, testing etc.    Grant of License   A license is granted if the results of the preliminary inspection and the independent testing are satisfactory. The initial validity of the license is 3 years that can be extended for further periods of 3 years at a time, subject to satisfactory operation of the license.    

Product Certification/Safety Mark   
When the license is granted products can be marked with the ISC mark provided that the STI is fully implemented, products conform to the Cambodian standard and a record is maintained of tests carried out.    

Licensee’s performance   
Post certification controls are exercised through periodical surveillance inspections and testing of factory and market samples. The licence can for a particular product can be suspended or cancelled if consistent deficiencies are observed in conforming to the Cambodian standard.