Overview
ISO/IEC TS 17021-4:2013 is a Technical Specification that complements ISO/IEC 17021:2011 by specifying additional competence requirements for personnel involved in audit and certification of event sustainability management systems (ESMS). Published in 2013, it clarifies the specific knowledge and skills required of auditors, application reviewers and other certification personnel when assessing conformity to event sustainability requirements (for example those in ISO 20121:2012).
Key topics and requirements
- Scope and purpose
- Applies alongside ISO/IEC 17021:2011; focuses on competence for ESMS certification functions.
- Competence focus
- Defines ESMS-specific knowledge that certification bodies shall set for roles such as auditors, audit team members, application reviewers and certification decision makers.
- Core technical topics covered
- Event and event sustainability terminology - terms, definitions and concepts relevant to events.
- Sustainability context - understanding the organizational and stakeholder context of event activities.
- Sustainable development principles - as applied to events and their impacts.
- Event sustainability design, planning and delivery - knowledge of the event management cycle and how events operate.
- Techniques for identification and evaluation of sustainability issues - risk/impact identification and significance evaluation methods.
- Legal and other requirements - awareness of applicable laws and obligations affecting events.
- Venue characteristics and operational control - site-specific factors and controls that affect sustainability performance.
- Event sustainability metrics, measurement and monitoring - measurement techniques and performance monitoring.
- Performance evaluation - assessing event sustainability outcomes and continual improvement.
- Collective competence
- Not every auditor must have all competencies individually; the audit team collectively must cover required expertise.
- References
Practical applications and users
- Certification bodies - to define role-specific competence criteria, select audit teams and make reliable certification decisions for ESMS.
- Lead auditors and audit teams - to ensure audit teams collectively cover ESMS technical areas (venue, environment, social, economic).
- Event organizers and managers - to understand audit expectations when seeking ESMS certification or benchmarking against ISO 20121.
- Scheme owners and conformity assessment stakeholders - to set or evaluate additional competence requirements within sector schemes.
- Internal and supply-chain auditors - as a reference for developing competence profiles for internal audits of event sustainability.
Related standards
- ISO/IEC 17021:2011 - general requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems.
- ISO 20121:2012 - Event sustainability management systems - requirements with guidance for use.
- ISO 19011 - guidance on auditing management systems.
Keywords: ISO/IEC TS 17021-4, event sustainability management system, ESMS, ISO 20121, auditor competence, certification bodies, event sustainability audit, management systems certification.