The purpose of Classification is to verify that a ship is designed, constructed, and maintained in compliance with the Classification Rules of a dedicated recognized classification society (e.g. DNV). A Classification service can only be executed by the Classification society that have issued the relevant Classification Rules.

A 3rd Party Verification ensures that a design, component, system, or operation meets specific requirements other than class rules. The requirements may come from industry standards (e.g., API, ISO, IEC), project specifications, or regulatory frameworks. 3rd party verification is executed by bodies independent from the designer, producer, operator or purchaser.

Inspection on Behalf of the Purchaser shall ensure that equipment or components being procured by a buyer meet the agreed technical specifications, quality requirements, and contractual conditions.

A Consultancy Service provides expert advice, engineering support, or problem-solving for the ordering client based on professional expertise.

Product Certifcation customers can also use the Newbuilding Portal if the shipyard agrees. However, the Newbuilding Portal contract is normally between DNV and the shipyard, and the shipyard typically considered the owns the deliverables. As a consequence comments and technical documents - even when restricted - are accessible to theshipyard.

The Product Certification Portal, is designed specifically to protect the customer’s intellectual property and does not share any information with theship yard. It is the customer’s decisision to share deliverables and status updates with the shipyard — not DNV’s.

The Class Rules are to be considered as minimum technical or procedural requirements that need to be met in order to ensure ship's safety. 
Therefore, Class Rules prevail. 

In general, no.

No. DNV Classification Rules require testing to be carried out in the presence of DNV staff.

Before a manufacturer can deliver certain components or materials, the classification society may need to approve the manufacturer’s:
•    Quality management system,
•    Production processes,
•    Identification and traceability systems,
•    Testing facilities.
Approval of Manufacturer is often a prerequisite for producing class-certified products.

Not if the product is subject to mandatory class certification.
Installing uncertified products may result in:
•    Conditions of Class,
•    Repair orders,
•    Refusal of class certificate,
•    Statutory non-compliance,
•    Commercial consequences for the owner

No. DNV staff witnesses testing and confirms that performed test are in compliance with requirments set out in DNV Rules and Standards. 

DNV requires that all tests are carried out by laboratories accredited by an official third‑party accreditation body in the respective country. The accreditation must explicitly cover the scope of services and test methods required for the assessment.

DNV recommends to have the Design Review completed first before proceeding with any manufacturing and testing to avoid any risk for re-work etc.

The documentation required to be handed in is provided in the relevant parts of the Classification Rules and Classification Programs. Typical documentation includes:
•    Technical drawings/data sheets
•    Material certificates (e.g., 3.1/3.2)
•    Test procedures and results
•    Quality system documentation
•    Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) procedures
•    Previous approvals, if applicable
Requirements vary by product type.

Depends on:
•    Type and number products to be certified,
•    Type of certificate,
•    Required testing (e.g., fire test, pressure test),
•    Surveyor’s travel efforts

TBCs published in DNV's Approval Finder tool are only a copy and an excerpt of the original certificate issued to the holder of the certificate certicate. These documents do intentionally not bear a signature to prevent misuse, theft of IP rights, or unauthorized replication of TBC content. The TBC originals issued to the holder of the certificate are fully signed and include all required information.

DNV's Approval Finder present only copies and excerpts of TBC with content as agreed with the holder of the certificate. The shared content is limited to protect intellectual property rights of the certificate holder.

Our deliverables are issued exclusively to one customer — the contractual party. DNV does not sahre these deliverables with third parties, as they are the property of the contracting customer. It is the customer’s responsibility to distribute deliverables to other stakeholders as they find necessary.

Yes, the customer as owner of their portal may grant access to third parties at their discretion. However, it needs to be duly considered that such access includes the ability to generate orders on the account of the owner of the portal account and  it also provides access to all documents ever uploaded to the portal.

At the moment it is not possible to provide limited access. Either all certification orders or to none may be accessed — the content itself cannot be restricted. It is possible to provide a time‑limited access period for a user, but not selective access to specific orders or documents.