Suspension & Revocation of Certificate

CERTIFICATE SUSPENSION

The certification body suspends certification when:

• The client’s certified management system systematically and significantly does not meet certification requirements, including the requirements for the effectiveness of the management system
• The certified client does not allow supervisory inspections to be conducted within the required timeframes or does not comply with the terms referred to in the Certification Agreement and when
• The certified client himself requests the suspension of his certificate’s validity.

The certification body reinstates the suspended certification if the issue leading to the suspension has been resolved. Failure to resolve the issues that resulted in the suspension within a specified time results in the revocation or reduction of the scope of the certification. The certification body limits the certification scope to exclude parts that do not meet the requirements or when the certified client systematically or significantly does not meet the certification requirements for those parts of the certification field. Any such restriction must comply with the requirements of the standard evaluated for certification. The suspension cannot exceed six months.

1. RECALL OF CERTIFICATE

Beyond suspension, the certification can be revoked in the following cases:

• If very serious non-compliances with the applicable requirements, criteria, and purposes of the inspection are identified during supervision
• If the certified organization does not fulfill its financial obligations or violates other terms of the Certification Contract, and
• If the certified organization does not want to comply with the requirements of changes in applicable standards or other regulatory and standardization documents.

In the event of a revocation of certification, the interested customer has the right to object to the revocation decision, according to the provisions in P09 Complaint and Objection Management Procedure. The revocation notification is sent by registered letter (or other equivalent method e.g., by e-mail), specifying the reasons and the date from which the revocation is valid.

Based on the P05 Inspection Process applied by the Certification Body:

• If the client wishes to suspend or revoke the certification, its validity changes immediately.
• If the supervision inspection is not carried out within the specified time frame, the suspension is activated the next day after completing one year from the Granting Decision. The client is informed that the certification will be revoked unless the inspection is conducted within 30 days from the date of the regular inspection.
• If the recertification inspection is not performed within the specified time frame, then the certification expires and is not available for use.
• If the Certification Body deems that the provision of relevant services or the availability of products entails risks (health, safety, etc.), then the client is informed and the certification is suspended within 15 days from receiving the information about the event. The certification is revoked immediately upon the relevant recommendation of the Inspector or at most within one month, after a decision of the General Director of the CB.
• If the client’s certified management system systematically or significantly does not meet the certification requirements, including the requirements for the effectiveness of the management system, then it is suspended for a maximum of 2 months (within Initial Certification or Recertification) or for 1 month (within Annual Supervision). The certification is finally revoked at most within 3 months (in the context of Initial Certification or Recertification) or in 2 months (within Annual Supervision).
• If there are financial obligations that are not paid by the client then the certification is suspended and eventually revoked after negotiations.
• In case of violation of the secondary terms of the Certification Contract or the client does not comply with the new mandatory requirements or changes related to the certified standard, the certification can be suspended for up to one month and revoked at most after two months.
• If Non-Conformities are identified during the inspection, with the client being informed, the certification is suspended. A schedule is drawn up for the agreement and resolution of corrective actions that do not exceed one month from the issuance of the NCs. If the NCs are not timely lifted, then the certification is revoked at most after 3 months (in the context of Initial Certification inspection), after two months (in the context of Supervision inspection), unless the existence of special reasons (force majeure reasons) is documented.

In the event of misleading or incorrect signaling and use of the Certification Body logos, the certification is immediately suspended upon detection and revoked at most after 15 days.