1.PURPOSE:

To ensure that the VCPL Certificates of Quality and/or Environmental and/or Occupational Health & Safety are;

Correctly approved and issued when the organisation/site demonstrates compliance with ISO 9001 / ISO 14001/ ISO 45001 through the certification audit process.

Correctly withdrawn when the organisation/site is found no longer to comply with ISO 9001 / ISO14001 ISO 45001 for any element of the standard.

The certified client complies with the conditions governing the use of the Certificate of Quality,

Environmental and/or Occupational Health &Safety Approval and the mark/symbol of the accreditation body logo and the VCPL certification mark.

2. SCOPE:

All QMS/ EMS / OHS certificates approved by the VCPL

3. REFERENCES:

ISO 17021-1:2015, Clause 9.6.5 Suspending, withdrawing or reducing the scope of certification.

 4. DEFINITIONS:

None

5.  PROCEDURE

5.1 Lead Auditors approval/rejection of certification

For each certification audit and re-audit the Auditor shall submit to the certification body the certification recommendation report / audit report for the respective management system containing written reasons for recommendation or rejection for certification or re certification. The Lead Auditor’s recommendation shall be based upon the auditees Management System meeting the following criteria:

                                                  

5.1.1 ISO 9001 Quality management System (QMS):

For a recommendation to certificate an operator with a newly introduced or re-audited quality management system, the following degree of development or maintenance must have been achieved;

To be certified an organisation should demonstrate that the QMS functions and the various control mechanisms are properly operational. In practice this means that:

The QMS has been operational for a minimum of two months;

The internal audit system is fully operational and can be shown to be effective;

One management review has been conducted.

A QMS Certificate can only be issued or re-issued:

Any non-conformity identified has been addressed and any major non-conformity has been eliminated;      

The certification body has justified confidence that all provisions in the QMS standard have been met, and that provision for compliance with the organisation's policy objectives and quality requirements is effective;

All staff has been made aware of the organisation's policy objectives and quality requirements;

All key staff (those involved in managing quality requirements) has undersigned a training needs

Analysis, and has received training accordingly.

5.1.2 ISO 14001 Environmental management System (EMS):

For a recommendation to certificate an operator with a newly introduced environmental management system, the following degree of development must have been achieved;

To be certified an organisation must demonstrate that the EMS functions and the various control mechanisms are properly operational. In practice this means that:

The EMS has been operational for a minimum of two months;

The internal audit system is fully operational and can be shown to be effective;

One management review has been conducted.

An EMS Certificate can only be issued if:         

Any non-conformity identified has been addressed and any major non-conformity has been eliminated;

The certification body has justified confidence that all provisions in the EMS standard have been met, and that provision for compliance with the organisation's policy objectives including regulatory requirements is effective;

The principle of 'continuous improvement' of environmental performance has been made concrete in an environmental programme and is being adhered to;

All staff has been made aware of the organisation's environmental effects, objectives, and the system;

All key staff (those involved in managing significant effects) has undersigned a training needs analysis, and has received training accordingly.

5.1.3 ISO 45001Occupational Health & Safety management System (OHSMS):

For a recommendation to certificate an operator with a newly introduced Occupational Health & Safety management system, the following degree of development must have been achieved;

To be certified an organisation must demonstrate that the OHSMS functions and the various control mechanisms are properly operational. In practice this means that:

The OHSMS has been operational for a minimum of two months;

The internal audit system is fully operational and can be shown to be effective;

One management review has been conducted.

An OHSMS Certificate can only be issued if:

Any non-conformity identified has been addressed and any major non-conformity has been eliminated;

The certification body has justified confidence that all provisions in the OHSMS standard have been met, and that provision for compliance with the organisation's policy objectives including regulatory requirements is effective;

The principle of 'continuous improvement' of OHSMS performance has been made concrete in risk assessment plan and is being adhered to;

All staff has been made aware of the organisation's OHSMS effects, objectives, and the system;

All key staff (those involved in managing significant effects) has undersigned a training needs analysis, and has received training accordingly.

 

 

5.2 Review of Lead Auditor’s Recommendations

The VCPL Quality Manager Shall Review the lead auditors’ report and associated material along with the reasons for recommendation/rejection for a client’s certification. Quality manager shall sign the audit report and forward the report for the approval or rejection to the certification committee for them to endorse. A Peer Review by the scope approved Technical Expert/Auditor is required if the Quality Manager does not have the scope approval of the certification. In all the cases, the review of audit reports and the certification decision making process shall be carried out by individual or committee who are different from those who carried out the audit.

5.3 Governing Board Review and Approval

The VCPL certification approver/committee is the final approver for all management system certifications (for those scopes approved for VCPL by the accreditation body) to be issued.

Certification Committee- The committee will be consider the audit process followed for the certification, including the application process, followed by contract review, stage 1 & 2 audit planning and execution. The committee will consider the recommendations of the lead auditor for their decision depending on the review of the audit findings in the audit report for stage 1 & 2.

Terms of Reference-The tenure of the committee shall be for the particular audit and will be constituted each time and every time. Certification committee is temporary committee constituted every time for Grant of certification, Change of the scope of certified client & Decision on maintaining certified client

Participation as member of committee should be kept confidential and should not be used as a qualification or an award. It should not be used in personal seal, signature or stamp.

Membership-In certification committee VCPL Director and Quality Manager are permanent members and Technical Member will be selected from pool of TE/LA of relevant code (who is not a part of audit) and all the committee member shall not be part of Audit.

1. Director of VCPL ( Permanent Member)

2. Quality Manager of VCPL( Permanent Member)

3. Lead Auditor/ Technical expert (Relevant code )

If Quality Manager has relevant code then Technical Expert not used in certification committee. The Director or Quality Manager can be member of the committee if they are not part of the audit, i.e. director or quality manager should not be a part of the audit team.

Director has no right to vote in decision making

The quality Manager has the veto right (if he is qualified for the same code) and decides on the audit result.

Technical Expert has the veto right and will assist the quality manager in taking decisions.

The final decision of the audit will be taken by the quality manger with the help of member

5.4 Terms of Reference of Decision Maker

The VCPL Quality Manager is appointed as the decision maker for the certification activities.

Decision on granting or refusing, expanding or reducing the scope of certification, suspending, or restoring, withdrawing or renewing the certification shall be made by the Quality Manager.

As a decision maker, Quality Manager shall also be,

1. Decision making on the final approval of lead auditor’s recommendation on the client’s management system.

2. Decision making on technical amendments to the Certification and certification process as per the standard requirements and as per relevant accreditation procedures.

3. Decision making on certification status as per the decision given by the appeals and complaints handling committee.

4. Decision making on contractual arrangements or changes

5. Decision making on certification, regarding the policy formulation and amendments

6. Delegation of authority to appeals and complaints handling committee on matters of certification

7. To act on the directions of impartiality committee and to be impartial in taking decision on certification

8. To periodically identify and verify the skills and competence of personnel involved in certification

activities and to advise VCPL management on the need of necessary resources and to ensure adequate provisions.

9. Report to the impartiality committee on situations and issues identified as threats to VCPL impartiality.

5.5 Decision-Taking in Relation to the Certification Function

The certification approver/committee, which takes the decision on granting/withdrawing a certificate within VCPL, should incorporate a level of knowledge and experience in all areas, other than audit experience, which is equivalent to that of the lead auditor enabling a decision to be made based on the review of objective evidence in the audit file.

The Lead Auditor has recommended certification in a report and this has been approved by the

reviewer (VCPL Quality Manager);

There is no outstanding major non-compliance;

The approver /committee ensures that the coverage of QMS, EMS, OHSMS certificates granted to an organisation shall be defined in terms of the activity/activities, location and effective control of the management system.

The approvals pack will contain copies of;

Application,

Contract review,

Document review,

Auditor appointment,

Audit report,

CARs (corrective action requests),

5.6 Issue of Certificates

Upon recommendation by the approver/committee, the VCPL Quality Manager shall verify the client’s details, including the audit scope of supply and prepare the Certificate of management system approval.

The certification approval is made by the Quality Manager of VCPL, such that VCPL is responsible for, and shall retain authority for all the decisions made by it relating to certification, including the granting, refusing, maintaining of certification, expanding or reducing the scope of certification, renewing, suspending or restoring following suspension, or withdrawing of certification.

The effective date of granting/ certification date, expansion or reducing the scope of certification or renewal of existing certificate is after the date of technical review and final decision (decision making date) by the quality manager.

To comply with the legislations of the accreditation body and the local government, the certificate shall be redesigned accordingly. A certificate change plan will be prepared to meet such requirements and the administrative officer will be delegated the responsibility to reissue the certificates as per ongoing requirements.

5.7 Certification Documents

The Certification documentation kit of VCPL delivered to its certifying clients identifies the following:

Client’s organisation name.

Complete physical address, including complete geographical location of the client organization

or the geographical location of the headquarters and any sites within the scope of a multi-site certification.

Scope of activity with respect to the type of activities, products and services as applicable at

each site without being misleading or ambiguous.

IAF Code in case of QMS/EMS/OHSMS certification

Certifying Standard and other normative document including indication of issue status (e.g. revision date / number).

Surveillance Marks.

VCPL’s Hologram to ensure authenticity of the certificate issued by VCPL.

Validity of the certificate.

Unique identification number for the certificate.

VCPL’s critical office address.

Accreditation Symbol, as applicable

Any other information required by the standard and /or normative document used for certification.

For recertification audits, VCPL keeps the original certification date on the certificate when a certificate lapses for a period if;

The current certification cycle start and expiry date are clearly indicated.

The last certification cycle expiry date is indicated along with the date of recertification audit.

The expiry date or recertification cycle date is indicated along with the date of recertification audit.

The effective date of granting/ certification date, expansion or reducing the scope of certification or renewal of existing certificate is after the date of technical review and final decision (decision making date) by the Quality Manager.

The use of logo procedure by VCPL defines the use of name, address and certification mark of VCPL and accreditation marks (e.g. accreditation symbol, client’s logo) may be used provided they are not misleading or ambiguous;

When the certification document is revised by VCPL, VCPL follows the procedure given in the documentation records and media control. This means that in the event of issuing any revised certification documents by VCPL, a means to distinguish the revised documents from any prior obsolete documents issued. Necessary arrangements and care are made to make clear that the documents revised and the prior documents are obsolete and are updated in the obsolete documents list.

The administrative officer shall make sure that each certification in the certification document kit carries the above-mentioned details before it is being delivered to the respective client.

The Administration Officer shall update the Client file; Client Certification register and then contact the client about any arrangements for the delivery of the certificate and any presentations required by VCPL . A copy of the Certificate shall be retained in the Client’s file. An electronic image of VCPL mark/symbol shall be forwarded to the client on the issue of the certificate.

5.8 Maintaining Certification

Maintain certification

VCPL maintains certification based on demonstration that the client continues to satisfy the requirements of the management system standard.

If VCPL decides to issue a non-accredited certificate (if approved by law) the VCPL Quality Manager shall record the issue of a non-accredited certificate in the certificate register, detailing when the certificate was issued, the scope of the certificate and reasons for the issue.

Certificates issued for non-accredited audits shall not carry any Accreditation mark. The client shall be told that it is a non-accredited audit and that the certificate will not carry the Accreditation mark.

When a client does not want to continue their certification to the management system, the validity of the certificate is only until the last full surveillance visit therefore cancellation is from the date of the last surveillance visit.

5.9 Suspension, Withdrawal or Reducing Scope of Certification Approval of certification.

Suspension of certification may be done in the following cases:

The certified client’s management system has persistently failed to meet certification requirements, including

requirements for the effectiveness of the management system.

The certified client does not allow surveillance or recertification audit to be conducted at the required frequencies.

The certified client has voluntarily requested a suspension.

In case of not applying of new standards that changed due to the certification system.

Violate use of certification mark.

Violate contract or agreement of certification.

In case of providing false information or document during audit.

Restoring of Suspension.

VCPL shall restore the suspended certification if the issue that has resulted in the suspension has been resolved. Failure to resolve the issues that have resulted in the suspension within six months shall result in withdrawal or reduction of the scope of certification.

WITHDRAWAL/CANCELLATION

VCPL shall cancel certification, withdraw the certificate and cancel any agreement for the use of the VCPL certification mark in the following cases:

(a) under the relevant provisions of Suspension or suspension is not restored in six months.

(b) at the formal request of a client;

(c) if the certification Criteria are changed and the VCPL cannot ensure conformity with the new requirements;

(d) if the client ceases to operate their certified system;

(e) if the client fails to meet financial obligations to VCPL; or

(f) on any other grounds specifically provided for under the certification criteria or formally agreed between the client and VCPL.

If a certificate is withdrawn, the VCPL Register shall also be amended accordingly and VCPL may also publish notification on that ground including VCPL’s website.

A client may appeal to the VCPL against a decision to withdraw certification.

Expanding or Reducing the scope of certification

VCPL shall, in response to an application for expanding the scope of a certification already granted, undertake a review of the application and determine any audit activities necessary to decide whether or not the extension may be granted. This may be conducted in conjunction with a surveillance audit. VCPL reduce the client's scope of certification to exclude the parts not meeting the requirements, when the client has persistently or seriously failed to meet the certification requirements for those parts of the scope of certification. Any such reduction will be in line with the requirements of the standard used for certification. VCPL enforceable arrangements with the certified client concerning conditions of withdrawal ensuring upon notice of withdrawal of certification that the client discontinues its use of all advertising matter that contains any reference to a certified status. Upon request by any party, VCPL will state the status of certification of a client's management system as being suspended, withdrawn or reduced.