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Scope of Certification

There are a number of possible scopes of certification.

Certification organizations, either for-profit or non-profit entities, usually comprise a single legal entity. This may include a single business unit or a unique brand within a country, or all the business units or brands operating under a parent entity in the same country.

When auditing an organization that exists in multiple sites in a country and which share a common internal management system and implement the same policies and procedures in relation to employees and governance, the certifying organization is usually the headquarters entity. When the organization entity meets this specified scope, certification is granted to an organization as a whole, within a single country, covering all relevant business units or brands and sites operating under the parent entity.

International organizations, including but not limited to inter-governmental organizations/multi-lateral organizations, international non-governmental organizations, international federations or associations, or international financial institutions, which operate in different countries, may be considered single entities for the purposes of certification provided all employees, regardless of country, are contracted to a centralized organization, and there are shared management and governance systems, and shared policies and practices across all countries of operation. Thus, effectively operating like a single jurisdiction regardless of individual countries of operation. These organizations may be granted a certificate that covers their entire organization, without the need to conduct on-site audits of individual country operations. Organizations that meet the criteria mentioned above may choose to seek certification for a headquarters entity separately from the wider (e.g., global) organization, provided the headquarters entity has submitted its data and information to the EDGE Empower® software as a separate entity to the wider/global organization and the inputs and outputs have been verified through a certification audit.

Certification organizations may qualify for global certification providing the organization is part of a global organization, e.g., a ‘global company’, a ‘global business unit’ of a company, or a ‘global brand’, where the country-level entities have first been or are in the process of being assessed and certified to the EDGE Standards, and the verifiable proportion of the global workforce employed by assessed and certified or soon-to-be certified entities is equal to or greater than 80% of the total global workforce.

Ideally, country-level entities should have 200 or more employees. The only circumstance where small-sized organizations (e.g., country-level entities with fewer than 100 employees) may be considered eligible for certification is when they are part of a global certification group. In such cases, the absolute minimum number of employees for any country-level entity within a global certification group is 30 or more. Ideally, country-level entities should align their twelve-month period of reference for assessment and certification purposes. When the organization entity meets the requirements specified outlined above, global certification may be granted at the Certification Level that is shared by all the country-level entities.

  • For example, assuming the certification organizations are a part of a global corporate entity, if certification organizations from the US and India are certified as EDGE Lead, and the certification organization from Switzerland is certified as EDGE Assess, the global certification level shall be EDGE Assess.
  • Similarly, if the certification organization from Switzerland is certified as EDGE Lead, and the certification organizations from the US and India are certified as EDGE Move, the global certification level shall be EDGE Move.

The 80% threshold stipulated above shall apply to both EDGE (gender-binary) and EDGEplus (gender and intersectionality) Certifications, meaning that in order to become EDGEplus certified, 80% of the total global workforce of the organization undergoing global (re)certification will have first been or are in the process of being assessed and certified to the EDGEplus Standard. If global certification is awarded, country-level entities may publicly declare and/or display global certification claims (subject to appropriate approval and/or licensing) but shall also be required to publicly declare and display the country-level certification level using the relevant licensed EDGE or EDGEplus seal (label).

Organizations engaged in the armament and firearms, tobacco, gambling, and adult entertainment industries are excluded from EDGE Certification.