This policy has been approved by the Certification Scheme Committee (CSC), which includes representatives from relevant interested parties such as external company representatives. Compliance with this policy is mandatory for all Certification Body (CB) personnel, committee members, and individuals involved in certification activities.
The Certification Body is committed to conducting all certification activities in an impartial, objective, and transparent manner. The CB recognizes that maintaining impartiality is fundamental to the credibility, integrity, and reliability of its certification services.
The CB shall ensure that decisions related to certification are made independently and are not influenced by commercial, financial, personal, or other interests that could compromise objectivity.
To protect the integrity of the certification process, the CB identifies, evaluates, and manages potentialconflicts of interest. Where risks to impartiality are identified, appropriate actions shall be taken to eliminate or minimize such risks to an acceptable level before certification activities proceed.
The CB has established and implemented documented policies, procedures, and controls designed to safeguard impartiality throughout all certification processes. The Certification Scheme Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving these arrangements and for monitoring their continued effectiveness.
Prior to appointment, all proposed members of the Certification Scheme Committee are evaluated to ensure that their participation does not create a threat to impartiality. The CB maintains a balanced representation of interests within the Committee and ensures that no individual or group dominates the decision-making process.
The CB shall not provide management consultancy services that could compromise its independence. Furthermore, the CB shall not perform internal audits for organizations seeking or holding certification under its schemes.
To avoid any actual or perceived conflict of interest, the CB shall not certify the quality management system of another certification body.
The CB shall not subcontract certification audit activities to management system consultants or organizations whose activities could adversely affect impartiality.
This Impartiality Policy shall be made publicly available to interested parties and stakeholders through publication on the CB website and by other appropriate means when required.
The certification body shall act impartially in relation to its applicants, candidates and certified persons. Policies and procedures for certification of persons shall be fair among all applicants, candidates and certified persons.
Certification shall not be restricted on the grounds of undue financial or other limiting conditions, such as membership of an association or group. The certification body shall not use procedures to unfairly impede or inhibit access by applicants and candidates.
The certification body shall be responsible for the impartiality of its certification activities and shall not allow commercial, financial or other pressures to compromise impartiality.
The certification body shall identify threats to its impartiality on an ongoing basis. This shall include those threats that arise from its activities, from its related bodies, from its relationships, or from the relationships of its personnel. However, such relationships do not necessarily present a body with a threat to impartiality.
NOTE 1 A relationship that threatens the impartiality of the body can be based on ownership, governance, management, personnel, shared resources, finances, contracts, marketing (including branding) and payment of a sales commission or other inducement for the referral of new applicants, etc.
NOTE 2 Threats to impartiality can be either actual or perceived.
NOTE 3 A related body is one which is linked to the certification body by common ownership, in whole or part, and has common members of the board of directors, contractual arrangements, common names, common staff, informal understanding or other means, such that the related body has a vested interest in any certification decision or has a potential ability to influence the process.
The certification body shall analyse, document and eliminate or minimize the potential conflict of interests arising from its certification activities. The certification body shall document and be able to demonstrate how it eliminates, minimizes or manages such threats. All potential sources of conflict of interest that are identified, whether they arise from within the certification body, such as assigning responsibilities to personnel, or from the activities of other persons, bodies or organizations, shall be covered.
Certification activities shall be structured and managed so as to safeguard impartiality. This shall include balanced involvement of interested parties
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