Accredia / Accreditation / Sanctions and appeals

Sanctions and appeals

A shared responsibility

Accredia regularly checks all accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies and rigorously deals with appeals.

By means of constant surveillance of the activities of CABs, Accredia ensures continuity in the value and reliability of certification, inspection and verification, testing and calibration services put on the market.

If a CAB fails to fulfill its accreditation obligations Accredia can impose sanctions of a severity which depends on the case in question.

If the CAB finds irregularities in Accredia’s behavior with respect to a decision taken by the management or by the Sector Accreditation Committee, it can present an appeal.

The sanctions policy

The certificate of accreditation has validity of four years, during which Accredia does regular surveillance activities of the accredited CAB to make sure that the competence requirements are being fulfilled and to ensure compliance with the standards and all other applicable documents.

In agreement with the accredited CAB Accredia draws up a surveillance program, and if these checks reveal situations which could compromise the value of accredited services, Accredia takes the necessary steps to protect the credibility of the conformity assessment system.

For each category of accredited CAB sanctions can be imposed according to the general requirements for accreditation.

In particular for certification, inspection and verification bodies sanctions can be of a minor or major extent.

Minor sanctions

These may be the temporary suspension of the process of extension of accreditation or of the application for accreditation for new sectors or a request for the implementation of corrective actions.

Major sanctions

These may be the temporary or permanent reduction, the suspension or withdrawal of accreditation, or the suspension of use of the accreditation mark on the reports of testing laboratories.

The appeals process

Under certain circumstances accredited CABs can appeal a decision taken by Accredia. This may regard the activities of the departments (e.g. rejection of an application for accreditation, extension of accreditation or renewal), or a decision of the Sector Accreditation Committee such as the imposition of a sanction, referring to technical or procedural issues.

The Appeals Commission is the statutory body which deals with appeals by means of the evaluation of the information and data involved.

For accredited CABs, appeals are handled according to the requirements of General Regulation RG-06 – “Regulation for the functioning of the Appeals Commission”.