Suspension or withdrawal of certification

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With the privilege of awarding certification comes the responsibility of withdrawing it when the required standards are not complied with.

Decisions to do so are not taken lightly, and we have developed the following guidelines to clearly explain the processes and procedures involved.

Why could my certification be suspended?

Under accreditation rules, there are various circumstances that could lead to the suspension of your certification, such as the following:

  • Your management system has persistently or seriously failed to meet the requirements of the standard
  • You do not allow assessments to be complete at the required frequency
  • You request a voluntarily suspension

If a major non-conformance is raised, you have a 30-day window to address the non-conformance and have the corrective actions verified and closed out. Until the non-conformance is closed, the status of the certification will remain as ‘suspended’ (assuming the non-conformance has resulted in temporary suspension of the certification in the first place).

Please note that a major non-conformance may be raised if QMS receives external evidence that a major failure in compliance has occurred. This may happen at any time if we are made aware of a major failure of a client’s management system – not just during a scheduled assessment.

How can my certification be reinstated?

In the case of non-conformance, when we are satisfied that a major non-conformance has been addressed the non-conformance can be closed or downgraded. When this happens, the status of the certification immediately goes back to normal, meaning any temporary suspension is removed (assuming the non-conformance resulted in temporary suspension of the certification in the first place).

Why could my certification be withdrawn?

As a certified organisation you may withdraw, or have your certification withdrawn, in these two circumstances:

  • Voluntary withdrawal – you may decide that your organisation no longer requires certification, in which case you can make a formal request for withdrawal of the certification.
  • Withdrawal by the certification body – QMS withdraws your certification for justifiable reasons such as:
    • Failure to arrange an assessment in the appropriate timeframe
    • Non-payment of invoices
    • Failure to address non-conformances in a timely manner

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