Nigel Johnston
Technical Administrator, IAF CertSearch
CEO, Quality Trade

Accredited certification is a cornerstone of trust in global trade. From quality management to food safety and environmental compliance, certifications issued by accredited certification bodies assure governments, corporations, and consumers that organizations are meeting recognized international standards. But verifying those certifications across vast supplier or customer networks has long been a challenge, slow, manual, and resource-heavy.

The IAF CertSearch database was created to address this challenge. Today it contains more than 3.2 million accredited certifications (all statuses), uploaded by over 2,400 certification bodies and supported by 77 accreditation bodies, making it the single most comprehensive and authoritative source of accredited certification data worldwide.

From Manual Search to Automated Assurance

IAF CertSearch began with a free public search tool, enabling anyone to manually validate individual certificates. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this remains a simple and effective way to confirm supplier compliance.

Recognizing that many organizations need to check certificates in bulk, a file upload verification service was added, allowing hundreds or thousands of certificates to be checked in one step. This made large-scale verification far more practical, reducing weeks of manual work into hours.

Building on these foundations, the IAF CertSearch Application Programming Interface (API) was launched in April 2025. Designed for corporations and regulators with large, complex global supply chains or customer networks, the API integrates directly into enterprise systems, making real-time certificate verification possible at scale.

Why the API Matters

The world now operates digitally. Almost every company today relies on Software as a Service (SaaS)-based tools for day-to-day functions, whether in accounting, procurement, compliance, or communication. It follows that certificate verification must also become a seamless, digital process.

For large enterprises, supplier networks often run into the tens of thousands. Manually checking those certificates required dedicated validation teams. With the IAF CertSearch API, corporations can:

• Verify at scale – validate a single certificate or 100,000 at once, directly from accredited sources.
  
• Stay updated in real time – receive immediate alerts if a certification is suspended, withdrawn, or expired.
  
• Integrate seamlessly – connect verification directly into ERP, procurement, compliance, or supply chain systems.

Crucially, the API also resolves a fundamental inefficiency in the market. With more than 2,400 certification bodies and 77 accreditation bodies worldwide, it would be impractical and prohibitively costly for each corporation to set up and maintain separate APIs with every body. Equally, certification bodies would face the impossible burden of building and servicing 10,000+ APIs for their customers across industries.

Now, the industry provides one central API through IAF CertSearch. A single connection gives corporations access to verified certification data from across the entire global network removing duplication, reducing cost, and ensuring consistency.

The shift is profound. What once demanded 20 to 30 staff working for weeks can now be accomplished in seconds, freeing compliance professionals to focus on higher-value activities while ensuring continuous assurance across the enterprise.

Voices from Industry

One enterprise user, Shell Lubricants, described the impact of the system:

Not Just for Large Corporations

The API is already being taken up by major corporations, but SMEs are not left behind. Smaller organizations can continue to use the manual search or the bulk file upload to access the same trusted data and achieve comparable efficiencies, even if full API integration is unnecessary.

This tiered approach ensures that businesses of all sizes can verify accredited certification in the way that best fits their needs.

How to Access

Corporations that wish to adopt the API can:

• Contact info@iafcertsearch.org directly for integration support, or
  
• Request integration through their SaaS provider, ensuring that IAF CertSearch data flows into the compliance, procurement, or supply chain platforms they already use.

For SMEs and mid-sized companies, the free search and bulk upload services remain readily available, making accredited certification verification accessible to all.

For more information visit: https://www.iafcertsearch.org/