From Surveillance to Audit: Strengthening Control of Product Approval Activities through Systematic Evaluation.

Abstract

The ISO/IEC 17020 standard imposes on accredited inspection bodies (IBs) two distinct but complementary levels of evaluation: surveillance (continuous, integrated into daily activities) and internal audit (periodic, indepth).
However, their articulation remains little explored in the literature.
This article addresses the following question: how does the transition from surveillance to systematic audit strengthen the control of product approval activities ?
Through a three-year longitudinal study (2023-2025) conducted within BETEC Inspection, an accredited body specialized in product approval, we analyze the evolution of the evaluation system.
The results show that surveillance, although essential for daily management, has limitations (partial detection of non-conformities, superficial root cause analysis).
The introduction of systematic internal audits revealed undetected non-conformities, identified organizational root causes, and reduced major non-conformities by 80% over two years.
The article proposes a typology of non-conformities specific to product approval, an integrated surveillanceaudit model, and an audit grid specific to product approval operations. It demonstrates that the virtuous articulation between surveillance and audit constitutes a key factor in sustaining accreditation and improving IB performance.