This document contains general principles and requirements for the competence, consistent operation and impartiality of bodies providing validation and verification as conformity assessment. Bodies operating to this document can be internal (first party), collaborative (second party) as well as independent (third party) bodies and need not offer both, validation and verification activities. This document is applicable to validation and verification bodies in any sector, providing assurance through confirmation that claims or declarations are either plausible with regard to the intended purpose (validation) or correctly stated (verification). This document shall be applied in conjunction with sector specific programmes that contain requirements for validation and verification processes and rules. This document can be used as a basis for accreditation by accreditation bodies, peer assessment within peer assessment groups, or other forms of recognition of validation and verification bodies by international or regional organizations, governments, regulatory authorities, program or scheme owners, industry bodies, companies, customers or consumers. NOTE – This document contains generic requirements and is neutral with regard to the operated validation or verification programme. Requirements of the applicable programmes are additional to the requirements of this document.