- 1. The EAS shall verify that the CAB can demonstrate that all personnel involved in performing certification functions have the required competence.
- 2. The EAS shall verify that the CB has defined its certification process and the intended results to be achieved for each certification function. The EAS evaluation of the CB’s competence shall be based on:
- a. the CB’s documented process for determining competence criteria;
- b. the outcomes of the process for determining competence criteria;
- c. the CB’s evaluations of its personnel, and
- d. Taking account of the intended results of each certification function and whether, or not, these have been achieved.
- 3. The certification functions for which the EAS shall verify that the CB has determined competence criteria, include, but are not limited to, the following:
- a. Application review (see example in 3.5 below);
- b. Establishing the audit program;
- c. Scheduling of audits;
- d. Allocation of audit teams;
- e. Auditing and reporting;
- f. Report reviews and certification decisions; and
- g. Maintenance of certification.
- 4. The EAS shall verify that the CB has determined competence criteria for:
- a. Management overseeing the certification process;
- b. Members of its committee for safeguarding impartiality;
- c. Personnel performing internal audits; and
- d. Personnel responsible for evaluating and monitoring the competence and performance of personnel performing certification functions.
- 5. The EAS shall regard objective evidence of the CB achieving the intended results for all certification functions (see Annex A of this document) as an indication of the effectiveness of its processes for determining and evaluating competence. The EAS shall regard objective evidence of the CB failing to achieve intended results for any certification functions as an indication that the processes for determining and evaluating competence may be ineffective.
Note: The failure of the CB to achieve the intended results for a particular certification function could also be an indication that the CB’s procedures for that function are ineffective or have not been implemented.
For example, in the case of the application review, to determine that the CB has competent audit team members, it can allocate and to determine the audit time, the EAS shall verify that the CB:
- a. has defined the intended results (see (d) below) for this function of the certification process;
- b. has defined effective competence criteria for the personnel performing this function
- c. can provide objective evidence that the staff performing this function have demonstrated that they meet the competence criteria; and
- d. that the output from this function of the certification process has achieved the intended results, by:
- (i) providing evidence that the technical area(s) of the organisation to be audited has/have been correctly allocated;
- (ii) providing evidence that the assigned auditors have the required competence for the appropriate technical area(s); and
- (iii) providing evidence that adequate time has been allocated for the audit, based on the review of information provided by the applicant/certified client and from previous audits.
- 6. The EAS shall assess the process and procedures established by the CB to determine competence criteria and to evaluate competence to verify that personnel evaluated as competent consistently achieve the intended results for all certification functions.
- 7. The EAS shall verify that the CB has appropriate records of the implementation of its processes for determining and evaluating competence and that the CB can demonstrate its evaluation methods are effective and achieve intended results consistently.
Value Addition:
EAS accreditation follows defined procedure by which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented.” Organizations issuing credentials or certifying third parties against official standards are formally accredited by accreditation bodies; thus, EAS accredited Certification Bodies are called “accredited certification bodies”. The accreditation process ensures that the certification practices of these organizations are met the requirement.
EAS grants accreditation as per requirement of ISO 17011. EAS invite application from CAB,s looking for accreditation of EAS. accreditation is recognition of the certification to ensure the independence and it increases the credibility of the CAB. CAB interested to apply to EAS may write a mail to EAS at [email protected]. Once the request is accepted, EAS will mail the application form to the applicant.
Good result? Statement of conformity!
If the results are good, the assessing body provides the product or service with a statement of conformity. This statement is usually in the form of a certificate or a report. Accordingly, an assessing body is known as a conformity-assessment body. It is important for this body to be competent, since only then is the statement of conformity of use and reliable.
Supervision of the conformity-assessment body
An accreditation body assesses both the management system and the technical competency of the conformity-certifying body. In addition the accreditation body exercises supervision to guarantee the impartiality and expertise of the conformity-certifying body.
