Evidence and Conformity Verification

The traceability chain

Every certification conclusion must be traceable through a public and controlled chain: certification object and confirmed scope; applicable Foundation Conformity Requirement; stated conformity and evidence criteria; submitted evidence package and file metadata; verification activity; recorded facts; requirement-level conclusion; and, where necessary, remediation and closure evidence.

A document outside that chain may provide context, but it cannot extend the certified scope or replace evidence required for an applicable requirement. The Certification Application Materials Guide identifies what applicants submit; the Foundation Conformity Requirements identify what must be established and how conformity and remediation are determined.

Evidence quality attributes

Documents and implementation records

Controlled documents describe the arrangements intended to govern the certified object. Examples include policies, procedures, agreements, specifications, curricula, system descriptions, product instructions, risk controls and review methods. ICEQC checks approval, version, ownership, applicability and consistency with the requirement.

Implementation records show what actually occurred. Examples include completed reviews, decisions, case records, monitoring data, incident records, meeting records, training records, test results, change approvals and corrective-action evidence. Where a requirement concerns implemented practice, a document without corresponding records is insufficient.

Evidence packages and file information

The 39 evidence packages are organized by certification object: 15 for Education Organizations, 12 for Education Technology Services and 12 for Educational Products. A package defines the submission subject, condition, timing and linked Foundation Conformity Requirements. It does not create an additional requirement.

Each file is uploaded once and linked to every requirement it supports. The file record identifies its title, date, version, owner or issuer, language, covered sites or services, relevant period, confidentiality treatment and related package and requirement identifiers. A superseded or partial file must be identified as such.

Required, conditional and alternative evidence

Required evidence is necessary for the object and scope identified by the relevant package. Conditional evidence becomes necessary when the applicant's activities, technologies, learners, users, locations, legal duties, partners or operating conditions trigger the published condition.

Where the published requirement permits an alternative evidence route, the applicant must show that the alternative establishes the same required fact with sufficient reliability. Convenience, confidentiality or the absence of a record does not by itself justify an alternative or remove the requirement.

Verification methods

• Review of controlled documents and corresponding implementation records.
• Reconciliation of submissions with source records, data, public information and related evidence.
• Interviews with accountable leaders, responsible personnel, users, learners or other relevant people where permitted and necessary.
• Live demonstrations of systems, workflows, controls, services, interfaces, product functions or records.
• Remote observation or tours where the method can establish the relevant condition reliably and lawfully.
• Analysis of data definitions, extracts, calculations, trends, exceptions and underlying records.
• Independent specialist evidence for technical, physical, legal or safety conditions that ICEQC cannot establish directly through the planned remote methods.

Sampling and scope coverage

Sampling is used to test implementation across a population, period or distributed scope where examination of every record is neither necessary nor proportionate. ICEQC selects samples relevant to the requirement and capable of revealing variation across sites, versions, programmes, user groups, delivery modes, providers or time periods.

A sample supports a conclusion only within the limits of the sampling basis and corroborating evidence. ICEQC may expand or replace a sample when records are inconsistent, incomplete, unusually uniform, inaccessible or not representative. Sampling cannot waive a requirement, exclude an affected part of the scope without formal scope action or offset a nonconformity elsewhere.

Remote verification and conditions requiring other evidence

ICEQC uses a remote-first verification model where secure access, identity, source integrity and the relevant condition can be established to the required confidence. Remote verification may include controlled file review, screen sharing, live demonstrations, interviews, system-generated records and remote observation.

A physical, technical, legal, safeguarding, security or safety condition that cannot be established remotely is not assumed to conform. ICEQC may require independent evidence, additional access, a different method or a limitation of the proposed scope. If the necessary condition remains unverifiable, ICEQC records the resulting evidence limitation or nonconformity.

Object-specific evidence focus

Conformity conclusions

Nonconformity and remediation evidence

A nonconformity records the applicable requirement, verified facts, affected scope and unmet condition. The applicant determines and implements its response. Remediation evidence normally addresses cause analysis, correction, the revised control, implementation across the affected scope and evidence that the change is effective.

ICEQC closes the finding only after the updated evidence establishes conformity with the original requirement. A proposed action, future completion date, verbal assurance, administrative status change or deletion of an adverse record is not remediation-complete evidence.

Evidence that is not sufficient by itself

• A blank template, draft document or plan that has not been implemented.
• An unsigned or uncontrolled document where authority, version or current status cannot be established.
• A promotional statement, award, membership, reputation claim or customer list.
• An isolated screenshot without source, date, context, identity or underlying records.
• A self-declaration that repeats the requirement without verifiable facts.
• A certificate, report or opinion whose scope, competence, method, validity or relationship to the ICEQC requirement cannot be established.
• A record from one site, version, product or period presented as proof for a materially broader scope without a justified coverage basis.

Confidentiality, personal information and evidence access

Certification evidence and personal records must be submitted through the Online Application Centre, not by ordinary email or post. Applicants should remove personal information that is not necessary for verification, preserve the information needed to authenticate and interpret the record, and identify any legal or contractual access restriction before verification is planned.

ICEQC publishes certificate information and current status, not the applicant's submitted evidence or personal data. Where redaction prevents verification of a material fact, ICEQC may request controlled access to the source record or another reliable evidence route.