Baba re: "as far as qualification goes, I thought the companies that have the prototypes are the ones doing the testing.  Are you suggesting separate testing so as to meet some ISO standards?  Or is the testing by the companies that have the prototypes somehow done in conjunction with those entities that issue the certifications?"

The companies that do the testing for certification (e.g. testing the prototypes) are accredited to some standard, in this case ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996. So, the testing company is accredited based on the standard, they do the testing for certification, but not specifically testing the protoypes for an ISO standard, but they are accredited for that ISO standard. To get accredited for the ISO standard, the testing company must be in compliance with the standard, so they set-up various QA/QC protocols for performance testing etc. as per the ISO standard and would get audited to ensure they are in compliance with the requirements of the standard, in order to maintain accreditation. The audits are performed on the accredited testing company, and these audits are done by the accreditation bodies. So yes, the companies that have the prototypes are the ones doing the testing.