The IAF Mandatory Document describing additional controls for Certification Bodies to apply in relation to Entities, which support their Certification processes will apply in one month (9 May 2019).
Our earlier post: New IAF Mandatory Document on CB control on Entities described the key points from the Mandatory Document.
The International Accreditation Forum (IAF), which is the global network of accreditation bodies and other organisations involved in conformity assessment activities, has published a new Mandatory Document applicable to Management System Standards (MSS) certification, such as ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 9001:2015.
The document, originally, published on 8 May 2018, relates to entities, performing and/or managing management system certification activities, on behalf of Certification Bodies (CBs) holding accreditation, which are not wholly or partly owned or employed by the CB.
The entities may or may not be located in the same country as the CB head office and may be a representative, agency, franchisee or sales office of the CB or any entity which has a contractual relationship with the CB for performing certification activities.
It applies the following obligations for Certification Bodies to follow:
- Risk Assessment of Candidate Entities
- Establishment of the Legally Enforceable Agreement
- Compliance of Entities’ Operations with the Applicable Requirements and the CB Management System and Governance Documents
Additionally, Accreditation Bodies (ABs) have the following obligations:
- AB Monitoring of Entities
- AB Assessment of Entities’ Operations
Two Informative Annexes are provided to describe the elements That Can Be Checked During the Risk Assessment & a Toolset for Special Investigative Assessment of Entities’ Operations.
The Application Date for this Mandatory Document is 8 May 2019, when the National Accreditation Body (NAB) will expect the obligations of this Mandatory Document to have been embedded within the Certification Body and its Management System.
A copy of the IAF Mandatory Document 23:2018 can be downloaded here
ACTION POINTS:
- If you manage or operate a Certification Body issuing Management System Standards certificates or are an organisation supporting a Certification Body then you may be obligated under IAF MD 23:2018.
- An obligated Certification Body will need to apply their obligations, internally and externally to any organisation that support their certification body processes.
- The obligations arising from IAF MD 23:2018 will need to be implemented within the Certification Body from 8 May 2019.