CERTIFICATION

Management Systems Certification means increasing the credibility of product suppliers or service providers with clients and state authorities.

The basic certification and surveillance audit procedure

The pre-audit:

• Verifies the precondition of MS compliance with the requirements of the relevant standards

• Verifies the readiness of the organization for the certification audit

Certification audit

1. Stage 1 audit

Purpose

• To become familiarized with the scope of the activities of the company being certified (production or services)
• To verify the conformity of the documented management system with the requirements of the relevant standards
• To verify the correctness of the certification scope, applicable exceptions, key processes etc.

The output of the stage 1 audit is:

• The record from the audit team meeting (indicating any weaknesses)
• A proposal of the date of the stage 2 audit

  2. Stage 2 audit

  • To verify whether the implemented management system meets the requirements of the relevant standard, the  management system policy and legal and other requirements
  • To verify the level of the management system implementation

  The output of the stage 2 audit is:

  • The record from the final meeting of the audit team (indicating any deficiencies)
  • The recommendation of the audit team that the certificate be issued (or not)
  • The Audit Report

  Classification of deficiencies (^{_{valid for all types of audits}})

  Minor nonconformity

•  The audit team records a deviation and the client shall determine a corrective action
• The audit team will check by the subsequent surveillance audit the removal of this deviation
• Exposure of a deviation does not affect the positive recommendation to certification
• Exposure non-systemic non-conformity does not affect the positive recommendation to certification 

  Major nonconformity (non-compliance with any requirement of the relevant standard, non-compliance with legislation))

• The management system or its substantial part is fundamentally contradicts with the some requirements of relevant standard.

  Surveillance audit / re-certification audit

  Upon completion of the certification processes the lead auditor surveillance audits plan, while respecting the basic rule that the date of the 1st surveillance audit shall not exceed 12 months from the last day of the stage 2 certification audit (initial certification).

   

The recertification audit is always started at least before the expiry of the original certification
if the RCA is completed within 6 months of its initiation, the validity of the subsequent certification is linked to the certification decision
if the RCA is not completed within 6 months, a Level II audit must take place and the validity of the certification cannot be linked to the original certification decision

Follow-up surveillance audits after re-certification are usually carried out within 12 months of the previous audit given in the 3-year audit plan.

        Surveillance / re-certification audit verifies that:

• Certified system is continuously maintained, monitored and improved
• There is the compliance of management system with regulatory and legislative requirements (feedback to the client)

       Subsequently this audit confirms the compliance (or non-compliance) with the certification requirements.

      The audit team