This page sets out our process in plain language. The full binding version is the Certification Rules (REG-CER-RULES-01).
You complete an application form giving us the standards you want, your legal identity and sites, what you do, and how many people do it. We review it to confirm that we can certify what you are asking for, that we have the competence, and that nothing about the relationship would compromise our impartiality. We may decline, and if we do, we tell you why.
We calculate the audit time from the size and complexity of your organisation using the mandatory method at IAF MD 5. We do not adjust audit time to reach a price. If the time we calculate does not suit you, the answer is not a shorter audit.
Stage 1 checks whether you are ready: we review your documented system, look at your site and conditions, and agree how Stage 2 will run. Stage 2 checks whether the system actually works, on site, against every requirement of the standard. If more than six months pass between them, Stage 1 is done again.
We classify what we find as a major nonconformity, a minor nonconformity, or an opportunity for improvement. Major nonconformities must be fixed, and the fix must be shown to work, before we can certify you. Minor nonconformities need an accepted plan before certification and are checked at the next audit.
Someone who was not on your audit team reviews the file and decides. The audit team recommends; it does not decide. If we refuse, we tell you why, in writing, and we tell you how to appeal.
A certificate is valid for three years. You are audited at least once a year in between, the first time within twelve months of the certification decision date. Before the three years are up we carry out a recertification audit covering the whole cycle.
If your organisation changes in a way that affects your certification, tell us within 30 days. The list of what counts is in the Certification Rules.
We can add to your scope after an audit of the new activity. We reduce your scope if part of it stops meeting the requirements. We suspend certification if you seriously or persistently fail to meet requirements, if you refuse an audit, or if a major nonconformity is not closed in time. Suspension normally lasts no more than six months; during it your certification is not valid and you must stop using it. If the cause is not fixed, we withdraw. All of this is set out in full in the Certification Rules, and you can appeal any of it.
We can accept a valid certificate from another certification body accredited by a signatory to the Global ACI Mutual Recognition Arrangement, following the mandatory review at IAF MD 2.