The use of certification logos

When you have obtained the certificate, of course you would like to share this with the outside world. This can be done by using certification logos. These logos can be used on, for example, correspondence, advertisements, promotional materials, walls, doors, windows, exhibition stands and social media. Please note, the expression may not be misleading and may not be applied to products.

Certification logos are issued when the initial certification audit has been successfully completed. The validity period of the logos is linked to the validity period of the certificate that is issued.

When Brand Compliance is accredited by the Accreditation Council (RvA) for the relevant standard that has been tested, the certification logos will be supplemented with the RvA logo. This shows that the standard has been tested under accreditation.

Logo use

There are several rules associated with how a Brand Compliance certification logo should be used:

• Black or in colour, but always on a white background;
• Is there no option other than a coloured background? Then the logo must be white (we supply the white logo on a transparent background);
• The logo must be at least 50 mm wide;
• All numbers and letters in the logo must be legible;
• When enlarging the logo, the space between the characters should be increased proportionally;
• The RvA logo may only be used if Brand Compliance has a valid accreditation for the relevant standard.

Examples of valid Brand Compliance certification logos:

Examples of logo variations that are not allowed:

NEN logo

Additional rules apply to NEN logos. For example, a NEN logo may only be used if the name and logo of the certified organization are also used and the NEN logo may not be more conspicuous than the logo of the organization.

ISO logo

Note: ISO only allows the use of an ISO logo by ISO itself, ISO members and ISO technical committees. This means that an organization that is certified for an ISO standard by a certifying body, such as Brand Compliance, may not use ISO logos to show that it is certified. As written earlier in this blog, the Brand Compliance certification logos can be used, which are specially intended for that.

Thus, the logos below cannot be used to demonstrate certification:

Check

During the control audits and recertification, the auditor will check the use of logos. This blog can serve to verify whether logos are used correctly.

Additional questions about logo use? Our marketing department is available to provide more information: marketing@brandcompliance.com.