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Verify a certificate
Anyone can check a GMSCPL certificate — a customer, a tendering authority, a regulator or a member of the public. You do not need the certified organisation's permission, and we will not ask for it.
Where to find the number
The certificate number is printed on the certificate itself, usually near the bottom edge, in a format like GMS/QMS/2026/0417. If you only have a scanned image, the number is still readable on it.
No number at all? Send us the organisation's exact legal name and the standard claimed. We can search on that, though it is slower.
Urgent verification
Tender deadline today? Call the certification desk directly and we will confirm over the phone, then follow up in writing.
What verification confirms
Four things, in writing
Verification is not a yes/no answer. The scope line in particular is worth reading carefully — it is where most certificate misunderstandings actually live.
Whether it is genuine
That the certificate number exists in our records and was issued by GMSCPL to the organisation named on it.
Whether it is current
Valid, expired, suspended or withdrawn — as at the date you ask. A certificate can be genuine and no longer valid.
What it actually covers
The certified scope statement and the sites it applies to. This is the field most often misread: a certificate may be valid but not cover the activity you are buying.
Which standard and accreditation
The standard and version certified, and the accreditation under which it was issued.
Checking a certificate from another body
We can only verify certificates we issued. For a certificate from another certification body, verify it with that body directly — and separately verify their accreditation with the accreditation body named on the certificate, using the accreditation body's own public directory rather than anything supplied to you.
Signs a certificate is worth scrutinising
- A certificate with no certificate number, or a number that follows no consistent format
- No issuing certification body named, or a body you cannot find in any accreditation directory
- An accreditation symbol used without a corresponding accreditation body reference
- A scope statement so broad it could describe any organisation
- A three-year validity with no surveillance obligation mentioned anywhere
- A certification body that will not confirm a certificate without the client’s permission
None of these prove a certificate is fraudulent. All of them are worth one email before you accept it as evidence in a tender or a supply chain.
Why we make this open
A certificate exists to give a third party confidence. If that third party cannot check it without the certified organisation's cooperation, it is not evidence — it is a claim. Restricting verification would defeat the purpose of issuing the certificate at all.
Suspect misuse?
Tell us about it
If you believe an organisation is claiming a GMSCPL certificate it does not hold, or using our mark on a product, we want to know. Misuse of the mark is a ground for suspension.