Competency Requirement

COMPETENCY, EXPERIENCE AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLICANT CERTIFICATION BODIES

The general requirement for accreditation is that an applicant certification body shall meet the requirements of ISO 17021. This is a simply stated goal but experience has shown that notwithstanding the technical requirements of the standard being met, there is often a perceived shortfall in the manner of implementation of a certification body’s management system.

In addition to the perceived need for increased auditing controls is the need to ensure that certification bodies demonstrate appropriate skills and competence within the certification profession. It is a fact that many consultancies have seen the commercial opportunities of offering certification services.

Whilst the mixing of consultancy and certification is proscribed by ISO 17021, the standard is unable to address the personal ambitions of individuals who wish to migrate from one side of the profession to the other. It is felt by Global Akkreditering Board (GAB) that many skills and competences are common to both consultancy and certification but that not all aspects from consultancy are appropriate to certification, and vice versa. Moreover, cultural practices and attitudes acquired during consultancy, do not necessarily lend themselves to certification. In addition, the skills and knowledge sets are different, notwithstanding some similarity on occasion.

It is therefore necessary for GAB to lay down some ground rules for applicant certification bodies. These are as follows: –

• Applicants must demonstrate personal experience, qualification, competence and This will be objectively assessed via the completion of an Auditor Application Form, in an Excel Workbook format and any other feedback available to GAB.
• At date of application, certification bodies must demonstrate a collective 60 months professional experience within the certification profession at a senior level. Auditor, Lead Auditor and technical expert experience are not considered sufficient. Only persons previously discharging the following duties will be eligible for contributing to the 60-month criteria: Directors of previous Certification Bodies, Scheme Managers, Certification Managers or similar roles. Records will be required to demonstrate This will be assessed from information provided in the relevant application form.
• No one person may contribute more than 45% of the experience
• Documentation must be at a professional level of quality and be the applicant certification body’s own The following are document considerations deemed important to GAB:
  • Too many elementary spelling
  • Consistency with page lay-out and agnation.
  • Plagiarism must be
  • Documents containing the names of other
  • Document control: Electronic files should reflect document name and number as well as document status or

• Normally, an application for accreditation requires a once only application fee. This arrangement remains but is permitted for a finite period only. If provisional accreditation is not achieved within a period of four months (120 days) from date of application, then either the application is refused or a further fee is required in order to proceed.
• Applicant details are notified in the GAB web site together with the names of those persons whose experience meet the 120-month criteria and those who are advised as key members of staff by the applicant. Any comment from the general public, even if anonymously made, will be treated as a stakeholder interest and may be taken into account when assessing the application.
• Applicants should keep in mind that only three things are required.

• Documentation demonstrating management system structure in compliance with ISO 17021.
• Records demonstrating implementation of the management system.
• Competence of personnel. In this respect the following are important

• Qualities of individuals with regard to ISO 17021 and  Table 1 of this
• Accuracy of CVs and completed application

• Completeness of CVs and application forms. Too many queries and iterations during the application and accreditation process are indicative of an inability to fully understand accreditation requirements and will significantly reduce the probability of achieving an accredited status.

Table 1

Attributes knowledge and skills for personnel involved with specific certification activities

NOTE: Explanation of the level of proficiency to demonstrated for skills:

1. Skills to be commensurate with the requirements of the relevant processes.
2. Reading with speed, accuracy and comprehension to be able to analyze and judge in audit situations.
3. Writing accurately and succinctly to record, take notes, and communicate audit findings and conclusions.
4. Listening with accuracy and comprehension to be able to analyze and judge in audit situations.
5. Orally presenting audit findings and conclusions to be easily understood.
6. Interviewing to be able to obtain relevant information by asking open-ended, well formulated questions and listening to understand and judge the answers.
7. Writing of the audit report and appropriately communicating overall conclusions and recommendations.
8. Orally presenting, in a public forum (e.g., closing meeting), audit findings, conclusions, and recommendations appropriate to the audience.
9. Facilitating meetings with the audit team and the client for the effective exchange of information.