Top Management and Impartiality

he top management of PROCERT UK is fully committed to impartiality in management system certification activities. The PROCERT UK Impartiality Policy has a publicly available statement along with Code of Integrity and Professional Conduct that it understands the importance of impartiality in carrying out its management system certification activities, manages conflict of interest and ensures the objectivity of its management system certification activities.

Core Threats to impartiality as per ISO 17021

Self-interest threats:

Threats that arise from an individual or organisation acting in the interest of PROCERT UK. One potential threat to certification impartiality is financial self-interest and PROCERT UK ensures that financial ambition or burden must not be affect impartiality of the PROCERT UK MS Certification activities.

Self-review threats:

Threats that arise from a person or body reviewing work done by themselves. Auditing the management systems of a client to whom the PROCERT UK or its personal involved in certification; who have provided management systems consultancy would be a self-review threat.

Familiarity (or trust) threats:

threats that arise from a person or body being too familiar with or trusting of another person instead of seeking audit evidence. Hence PROCERT UK put restriction not to repeat assessment team leader for more three continuous assessment (Stage-1 Audit, follow up are not taken into consideration while counting the number of assessment)

Intimidation threats:

threats that arise from a person or body having a perception of being coerced openly or secretively, such as a threat to be replaced or reported to a supervisor.

Financial impropriety threats:

In addition to the threat of financial impropriety identified in above, PROCERT UK also recognises that given at least part of the PROCERT UK revenue is received by clients paying for certification, this is also a potential threat to impartiality at an organisational level. PROCERT UK keep its financial position viable and ensure any contingent risk by professional indemnity insurance and agreement with the Auditor, Client and all associated personal.

What we don’t do to maintain impartiality

To demonstrate effective Implementation of policy of PROCERT UK, we shall neither provides nor permits the Following:

• Consultancy services for realization, continuity and sustenance of certification.
• Services for designing, implementing or maintaining a management system.
• Certification services against or on behalf of other certification bodies having same accreditation which PROCERT UK have in its own name.
• Employee working for PROCERT UK shall not provide Certification Service with Consultancy group dealing in the ISO Consultancy.
• PROCERT UK shall not allow any consultancy organization to market or offer the activities of PROCERT UK.
• PROCERT UK shall not state or imply that certification would be simpler, easier, faster or less expensive.
• PROCERT UK or its employees shall not interfere or participate in decision process of management system issues.
• PROCERT UK & its employees shall not participate in preparation and procurement of manuals, guides, Formats and procedures intended to be used for management system standards in which PROCERT UK dealt with certification services.
• PROCERT UK shall not provide specific and detailed advice or training on design, implementation and maintenance of management systems subject to certification.
• There shall be no pressure of any kind (Financial, Trade, Administrative, Competitive, Moral and other) over PROCERT UK and the personnel regarding the execution of their obligations as a Certification Body according to ISO 17021:2011.
• PROCERT UK timely identifies, analyses, controls and documents all possibilities for conflict of interests that emerges or may emerge during its certification processes including any conflict that emerge or may emerges from its relations. Presence of relations does not necessarily position the PROCERT UK in a situation of conflict of interests. If some relations create impartiality threats, PROCERT UK documents and eliminates or decreases such threats. This information is presented before the Impartiality Committee. It is necessary to cover all possible conflict of interest resources that are identified regardless of their origin. PROCERT UK requires from all employees, internal and external, to comply with impartiality rules as well as reveal any situation known to them that may present them or PROCERT UK with a conflict of interests. PROCERT UK shall use this information as input in identifying threats to impartiality raised by the activities of such personnel or by the organization that employ them. Such personnel, internal or external shall not be used unless they demonstrate that there is no conflict of interest. PROCERT UK shall not undertake any action that threatens the impartiality and/or are potential conflict of interests.
• When certain relations create unacceptable impartiality threat, then the certification shall not be conducted. PROCERT UK shall not certify another certification body for its activities related to management system certification.
• When potential impartiality threat arises PROCERT UK eliminates it or decreases it. This process is also controlled by the impartiality committee by holding a meeting at regular intervals.
• PROCERT UK shall not certify own group companies (if there are such companies) or organizations that PROCERT UK is a part of or a member.
• Personnel, who have provided consultancy (including internal audits) within two years to the organization seeking certification, are not allowed to take part in audit or other certification activities.
• PROCERT UK shall not provide internal audits for its certified clients. PROCERT UK shall not certify a management system for which it has conducted internal audits within two years following the end of the internal audits.
• PROCERT UK shall not provide certification services to a client when relations between the Consultancy Company and PROCERT UK could lead to impartiality threat.
• PROCERT UK shall not outsource audits to a management system consultancy organization as this poses an unacceptable threat to the impartiality of the certification body. This does not apply to individuals contracted as auditors or technical experts.
• PROCERT UK does not receive any financial support other than its Promoters, Directors, Bankers, Financial Institutions and the fees for its services.
• PROCERT UK does not pay any commissions to consultants to eliminate any possible pressure or impact on PROCERT UK by consultants.
• PROCERT UK shall not allow any pressure from other certification bodies to influence the certification process in the organization. If other certification body declines to provide service for client and the client requests the same service form PROCERT UK than PROCERT UK shall investigate the reasons for declining before performing any other certification activities for the respective client.
• PROCERT UK shall not allow pressure from clients and/or consultancy organizations. If there is such pressure than PROCERT UK shall apply requirements of ISO 17021 and internal procedures in order to stop such practice.
• PROCERT UK shall not allow pressure from employees and/or related persons.
• All employees are obliged to work in compliance with requirements of ISO 17021 and as per agreement of contract.

The Impartiality Committee shall:

• Discuss the requirement and expectation of the accreditation standards and accreditation board for impartiality.
• Assist the PROCERT UK in developing the policies relating to impartiality of its certification activities.
• Counteract any tendency on the part of a certification body to allow commercial or other considerations to prevent the consistent objective provision of certification activities.
• Advise on matters affecting confidence in certification, including openness and public perception, and
• Conduct a review, as least once annually, of the impartiality of the audit, certification and decision making processes of the certification body.
• Ensure that balance of interest is maintained in the management system certification services.
• Approve the conflict of interest analysis and the mitigation measures described in ISO 17021
• Participate via one member in the Professional Conduct Committee which ensures implementation of the Code of Integrity within our organization Any instance where an employee, outsourced partner or customer feels there is a threat to impartiality, they are welcome to raise the concern directly to PROCERT UK