Certification Conditions

1.0 Purpose

To document, establish, implement, and maintain a system for granting, refusing, maintaining, extending, reducing, renewing, suspending, or reinstating suspensions and withdrawals of certification against the management system standards referred to in section MSM-04 of the Management System Manual in accordance with the requirements of ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015, and other applicable international standards for certification bodies providing management system certification.

2.0 Scope

This procedure applies to all audits conducted on clients during the certification cycle.

3.0 Responsibilities

Technical Manager

4.0 Procedure

4.1 General

4.1.1 ICL ensures that individuals or groups of individuals involved in decision-making for the granting, refusal, maintenance, extension, reduction, renewal, suspension, or reinstatement of suspension and withdrawal of certification against management system standards do not participate in audits.

4.1.2 ICL ensures that personnel involved in decision-making as stated above have the competence to evaluate the audit process and related recommendations from the audit team. Competency requirements are identified in document WI-03.

4.1.3 The composition of the Certification Review Board that makes decisions to grant, deny, maintain, extend, reduce, renew, suspend, or reinstate the suspension and withdrawal of certification against management system standards identified in the document, the Certification Review Board

4.1.4. Before making a decision, the Certification Review Board must review the audit report to confirm that

• The information provided by the audit team is sufficient in relation to the certification requirements and scope of certification
• Confirmation that the audit objectives have been achieved
• In the case of major nonconformities (refer to PM-06), the corrections and corrective actions proposed by the client are reviewed, accepted, and verified for the effectiveness of the actions taken, i.e., the nonconformities are closed.
• In the case of minor nonconformities (refer to procedure PM-06), the planned improvements and corrective actions are reviewed and accepted by the team leader or by a team member.

4.2. Certification.
4.2.3 Depending on the risk factors inherent in each technical area, the composition of the Certification Review Board is discussed in WI-03. The Certification Review Board will review the audit report and make the appropriate decision. Review comments and decisions are recorded in FM-028.

4.2.4 After the decision to grant certification, arrangements are made for the issuance of the certificate. Initially, a draft certificate is prepared and the accuracy of the entries is verified by the Scheme Manager.

4.2.5 The certificate is signed by the Managing Director or by an Authorized Person and issued to the client along with other documents identified in WI-05.

4.2.6 If the recommendations made by the assessment team are not accepted by the Certification Review Board, the client and audit team are notified with an explanation. ICL will then interact with the client to initiate appropriate actions to resolve the issue.

4.2.7 Certification Documents:

The final certificate will be sent to the client along with the terms of use for the logo and certification mark, PID-03, and logo in soft copy form.

4.2.8 Certification documents shall include:

• Client name and geographic location
• Date of issuance, extension, and renewal of certification
• Expiration date or recertification due date
  For the Certificate Number, we provide the Country Code + S No. + Std. Code
• Management system standards, including issue number and/or revision number, used for auditing certified clients
• Scope of certification including any exclusions (exclusions only apply to QMS)
• Name, address, and ICL certification mark as well as accreditation symbol in accordance with guidelines