Certification is a procedure intended for an independent and authorized body to validate or rule on the quality of the system applied by an organization, starting from and verifying whether or not it complies with the provisions of a certain recognized and official quality reference or model. It is a conformity evaluation process that results in a written report in relation to a product, a person, or an organization, ensuring that it meets certain requirements, characteristics, and/or demands.[1]​.

There are three main categories or classes of certification:

In another time in France, the certifier was for example:.

For its part, regarding the successful bidders&action=edit&redlink=1 "Award (sale at auction) (not yet written)") of the « Tuilerie du Bois du Roi&action=edit&redlink=1 "Tuilerie du Bois du Roi (Pargny-sur-Saulx) (not yet written)")",[3]​ in Pargny-sur-Saulx, in the dictionary of the year 1769 of M. Chailland (ex-Procurator of the King), it is stated:

As for participatory certification systems, they emerged in the 1970s to address the lack of official certification in areas such as organic farming.[5]​.

In participatory certification systems, certification is developed by a network of actors, for example, producer and consumer groups. These systems are based on trust and networks of exchange of knowledge and experiences.[5]​ In these cases, we speak of Participatory Guarantee Systems").

The advantages of participatory certification encompass the exchange of knowledge and experiences between the actors themselves, which gives the possibility of including macro issues, such as, for example, environmental, economic-financial, and social quality criteria, as well as the possibility for small business owners to access, as a group, certification by an independent third party") (in French: Certification tierce partie).[7]

Participatory certification is defended and supported, in the domain of organic agriculture, by the non-governmental organization IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements), as well as in the equitable economy sector, by the group Minga&action=edit&redlink=1 "Minga (association) (not yet written)").[5]​ In France, participatory certification has been implemented for example in the construction sector, by the association 'Envirobat'. BDM'[8]​ (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) and the association 'Ecobatp LR'[9]​ (Centres de ressources rénovation, construction et aménagement durables en Occitanie, Occitania "Occitania (administrative region)"), which carry out and use the label 'Mediterranean Sustainable Buildings')' (in French: Bâtiments Durables Mediterranean).