This Guide gives guidance on product certification systems by identifying their various elements based on current practices. It is intended for use by product certification bodies and other interested parties wishing to understand, develop, establish or compare third-party product certification systems. This Guide is not intended to describe all existing forms of product certification. It does not address first- and second-party product conformity assessment. NOTE 1 The term product is used in this Guide in its widest sense and includes processes and services; the term standard is used to include other normative documents such as specifications or technical