PROCEDURE FOR CERTIFICATION

STEP 1

Organisation decides to seek registration to a International Standard and requests a quotation. Quotation issued based upon completed questionnaire. Where necessary a site visit may be organised to explain the quotation and/or the benefits of Transpacific Certifications Limited ’s certification service.

STEP 2

Organisation accepts quotation by Signing Application for Registration and gives its authorisation to proceed. Including acceptance of this Quote Proposal At this Phase a Lead Auditor is assigned

STEP 3

Phase 1 Registration audit. This is an on-site/off site audit aimed at establishing the degree to which the organisation operates a conforming ISO 9001/ISO 14001/ISO 22000/OHSAS/HACCP/SA-8000/ISMS verifying the organisation’s Management System framework is in place; verifying the organisation’s internal controls give sufficient confidence in the Management System; verifying there is sufficient evidence of compliance of Documented system as per requirement of Standard for which Registration is Sought and finally if the organisation progressed to the Phase 2 registration audit, it stands a reasonable chance of being successful.

STEP 4

Phase 2 Registration audit. This is an on-site audit aimed at determining whether or not there is sufficient evidence of compliance with the requirements of the National and/or International Standard. The audit team also check the effectiveness, adequacy and suitability of the management system. At the closing meeting the audit team shall issue a recommendation. If the organisation is not happy with the recommendation of the audit team, the Applicant may lodge an appeal.

STEP 5

    • The Evaluation Team reviews all audit team recommendations and if satisfied there is sufficient evidence the organisation’s management system meets the requirements of the National or International Standard, a certificate of registration shall be issued or renewed. The certificate of registration shall be valid for three years. During this period the organisation’s management system shall be audited to verify the organisation’s management system continues to meet the requirements of the National and/or International Standard. The number and/or frequency of surveillance audits shall be determined by the status and importance of the organisations internal and Transpacific Certifications Limited’s audits. At the end of the three-year period the organisation’s management system shall be subject to a re-assessment.

    • Inevitably, management system standards are subject to periodic change (approximately every 5 years) and amended or additional requirements may emerge. It is Transpacific Certifications Limited ’s policy to work with clients to ensure compliance with the new and/or amended requirements at the earliest practical opportunity as preferred by the client. Where National and/or International Accreditation Bodies have set specific timescales these dates shall take precedence.

      • Processes for granting, refusing, maintaining, renewing, suspending, restoring or withdrawing certification or expanding or reducing the scope of certification

    • Registration may be suspended for a number of reasons, all of which relate to non-compliance with the certification criteria. Reasons for suspension are as follows:
    • Non-submission or non-performance of corrective action/s report within agreed time frame.
    • Improper or misleading use of the certificate, logos or marks of certification body and/or accreditation body.
    • Misleading representation or advertising.
    • If by any reason (specially an order from regulatory), the management system of the certified client organization has not been active and implemented;
    • Non-fulfillment of conditions set out for the issuance of certification, including the settlement of financial obligations.
    • Activities of a certified organization violating the laws or regulations related to its business;
    • Client’s certified management system persistently or seriously failing to meet certification requirements, including requirements for the effectiveness of the management system
    • Nonconformities of serious nature revealed during surveillance or reassessment.
    • Non-completion of surveillance or recertification audits, within stipulated time.
    • Use of single location certificate in a manner as to misrepresent the certification awarded for multi-site operation.
    • Activities of the certified client organization violating the requirements which are mentioned in this procedure
    • Certified client organization voluntarily requesting for suspension in an official letter;
    • Any apparent contravention of certification criteria once notice shall be brought to the attention of the Director Operations who shall investigate the report.  Should the result of the investigation reveal non-compliance with certification criteria, then a letter will be sent to the client outlining the non-compliance details and requesting their correction within a reasonable period of time, and explaining that their registration may be suspended in the event of non-completion of the corrective action.
    • Should the necessary corrective action not be taken within the agreed period of time, and then a further reminder letter will be sent to the client, informing that their registration is suspended. Under suspension, the client’s management system certification is temporarily invalid. In such cases the client will be asked to return any relevant certificates and schedules, and withdraw from use any letterheads, business cards, logos, etc. that indicate TCL registration.

Note: The duration of the suspension is up to 6 months, which cannot be longer than the expiry date of the certificate

    • If the suspended client organization requests for restoring the suspension with an official letter, TCL conducts a follow-up audit (as decided by the Director –Operations after reviewing those changes) or takes appropriate investigation actions in order to determine if the non-conformities that led to the suspension has been resolved or not. And finally according to the result, decides to restore the suspended certification if the issue that has resulted in the suspension has been resolved.
    • Still further, if the corrective action is not completed by the client within a reasonable time period, then another letter will be sent to the client detailing the fact that their certificate has been withdrawn or the scope has been reduce.  Such withdrawal of certification or reduction of scope will be published in the most appropriate manner. The client will be formally de-registered (in case of withdrawal of certification) and their details be removed from the master database.
    • TCL reduces the scope of certificate to exclude the parts not meeting the requirements, when the certified client organization has persistently or seriously failed to meet the certification requirements for those parts of the scope of certificate. Any such reduction shall be in line with the requirements of the standard used for certification.
    • In case of multi-site operation, if any one of the sites is not meeting the requirements of applicable national/international management system and the requirement mentioned in 8.1, at any point of time, the certification shall be withdrawn as a whole.
    • Suspension, cancellation and withdrawal of certification can be revoked by TCL upon verification of the corrective and preventive action through special audits.

NOTE:

If a client or any interested party is interested to know about TCL audit and certification processes and about the certification activities, types of management systems and geographical areas in which it operates, the same can be obtained by making a request at info@tclcertifications.com.