IAF ConsultancyTransfer the certificate when it is current, issued under accreditation, and the audit reports are available. Start over when there is no valid accredited certificate to recognize. Recertify when the cycle is ending and the useful job is a renewal audit. The application asks you to name which of those you want, because they are different pieces of work.
When is a transfer the right request?
Choose Transfer from another body when another certification body has already issued a certificate, the certificate has not expired, and it is not suspended. The accepting body reviews that certification and, where the review supports it, issues its own certificate for the rest of the cycle.
This is the path when response times, scheduling, or fees are the problem, and when a certification body is leaving the market. The system does not have to be rewritten to change the name on the certificate. The route is in how a transfer works, and the practical order is in how to change certification body.
When does the company start as a new client?
A suspended certificate is refused for transfer. So is a certificate the current body has already warned it may suspend. An expired certificate is no longer a current certification. If the latest surveillance or recertification was missed, or the audit reports cannot be produced, accredited bodies treat the company as a new client.
An unaccredited certificate ends in the same place. There is no accredited certification to recognize, so the work is an initial audit. See unaccredited certificates and suspended or expired certificates.
Where does recertification fit?
Recertification is the renewal audit near the end of the cycle. It opens a new cycle. A mid-cycle move to a new body is a different request. If the expiry date is close, say so on the application. The offer can then show a transfer of the remaining months, a recertification audit, or the two in sequence. The years after a certificate is issued are in after the certificate.
How does the quote keep the choice honest?
IAF Consultancy replies with a written offer that names the scope, the timing, and the price. The offer is where "transfer" either stays a review of the existing certification or becomes the audit a new client needs. You see that before a visit is booked.
On the application, kind of work is initial certification, transfer from another body, or recertification. Pick the one that matches the certificate you hold today. SMG, accredited by IAS under MSCB-153, issues the certificate when the decision supports it. IAF Consultancy audits.