Certification

Why is it appropriate to certify trade fair events?

In a trade fair system such as the current one, which is highly globalised and fiercely competitive, exhibitors and visitors need to compare, evaluate and choose the right events for their business using reliable and comparable data. Certification states that a service or product complies with a specific regulation that establishes its requirements.

• Internationally, ISO
  25639-1 Terminology
  25639-2 Measurement procedures for statistical purposes
  is in force and serves as a reference for national laws in the matter.

• UFI (the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry bringing together 550 members of the trade fair industry in 84 countries) requires UFI certification to list a trade fair as an “Approved event”.In other words, UFI certification is based on the ISO standard with some differences, the main one being that events certified by UFI cannot automatically be considered ISO-compliant.

• The certification of trade fair statistics is commonplace in Europe and certification programmes have been active in Germany and France for over 30 years covering almost all events.  In Spain and the UK, certification is more recent but has already reached levels close to 90% for international events and over 50% for national ones. Certification is also widespread in other European countries, such as Austria (since 1986) Switzerland (since 1991) Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine (since 1997).
  Certification in these countries is advocated by the national trade fair associations and implemented through independent bodies promoted and/or established and/or participated in by them.

In Italy, we have been discussing the certification of trade fair statistics since 2005. To allow members to fulfil their obligations in some regions, AEFI set up ISF, with the support of CFI – Industrial Trade Fair Committee, CFT – Tertiary Trade Fair Committee and Unioncamere in 2005.In August 2005, a call for applications for registration in the Register of Certifiers was published by the Interregional Trade Fair Coordination. ISF was recognised and started to operate.

At the same time, ACCREDIA became operational at the Italian level and defined a Proprietary Protocol for the recognition of Certification Bodies together with the Conference of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces consistent with the procedures described in ISO 25639 -2-2008 and in accordance with ISO/IEC17065.2012.

On 13 December 2012, ISFCERT was accredited as a certifying body for trade fair data, thus complying with current national and international regulations.

Visit the ISFCERT website for more details and contacts

DOWNLOADS

List of events certified by ISF in 2022 [PDF]
List of events certified by ISF in 2019 [PDF]
List of events certified by ISF in 2018 [PDF]
List of events certified by ISF in 2017 [PDF] 
List of events certified by ISF in 2016 [PDF] 
List of events certified by ISF in 2015 [PDF] 
List of events certified by ISF in 2014 [PDF] 
List of events certified by ISF in 2013 [PDF] 
List of events certified by ISF until 2012 [XLS] | [PDF] 
List of events certified by ISF in 2006-2012 [DOC]
Trade fair certification procedure  [PDF]