Also called accreditation, Conseil canadien des normes
What is the Standards Council of Canada?
The federal body that accredits the organizations allowed to write standards and certify products in Canada.
What else it is called
- Other names
- accreditation, Conseil canadien des normes
- In French
- Conseil canadien des normes
Related entries
Understanding standards Council of Canada
The body sitting above the standards system in Canada. It accredits the organizations that develop national standards, the certification bodies that put marks on products, and the laboratories that do the testing. It does none of those things itself, which is the distinction people miss.
This is what answers the practical question of whose mark a provincial authority will accept. A certification body accredited here can certify to the applicable Canadian standard, and several are. A mark from an unaccredited body is not acceptable, however impressive it looks.
It also represents Canada internationally, which is how international standards get adopted as Canadian national standards and how Canadian interests are represented when those standards are written.
In practice
If a supplier offers equipment carrying an unfamiliar certification mark, the question is whether the issuing body is accredited here. That is a lookup, and it is the difference between equipment you can energize and equipment you cannot.
Frequently asked
Does the Standards Council write standards?
No. It accredits the organizations that do, and the bodies that certify and test against them. CSA Group is an example of an accredited standards developer and certification body.