ISO Certification Process

ISO Certification Procedure of AMS:

  •   The Certification process shall consist of the following key stages

  •   Application Review & Contract Review

  •   Initial Certification Audit: Stage-1 & Stage 2 Audit),

  •   Certification Decision

  •   Continual assessment (surveillance audit),

  •   Renewal Audit

  •   Suspending, Withdrawing, Extending or reducing scope of certification

3.0 Application Review & Contract Review (Refer Procedure P05 for detailed information):

Application Receipt:

ISO Certifiction Enquiry may be received in several forms, by telephone, letter, e-mail or facsimile. Sometimes, AMS, on its own may also approach prospective clients.

Applicant Information:

AM shall request the application organization to provide the following information in questionnaire AMS-F-001 to enable AMS to establish the following:

  •   The desired scope of the certification.

  •   The general features of the applicant organization, including its name and the address (es) of its physical location(s), significant aspects of its process and operations, and any relevant legal obligations.

  •   general information, relevant for the field of certification applied for, concerning the applicant organization, such as its activities, human and technical resources, functions and relationship in a larger corporation, if any

  •   Information concerning all outsourced processes used by the organization that will affect conformity to requirements;

  •   The standards or other requirements for which the applicant organization is seeking certification;

  •   Information concerning the use of consultancy relating to the management system

  •   Application Review:

On the receipt of application questionnaire the details received shall be reviewed by AM against NACE / ANZSIC Codes and the accredited codes of IAF check AMS’s capability for processing the certification. The review shall be conducted in accordance with procedure no P 06. “Procedure for Review of Application and contract review”, if the same is found to be within AMS’s scope of accreditation, AM forwards the application to QM for Contract Review and Quotation issuance process.

Contract Review:

QM shall prepare a quotation after the contract review based on requirements of Mandays, multi site activities and other considerations. Estimation of man days shall be as per AMS'S procedure “Contract Review”. And after obtaining approval from CEO, shall submit the same to the client. The matter shall be followed with the client for securing business.

If the client accepts the quotation of AMS, he will forward the registration fee and On receipt of all these AM shall be required to verify the relevant details of the client’s application, fee quotation reconfirm Contract. He may consult CEO or any other officer of AMS to carry out an accurate review. Including allocation of the scope sector of the client’s activities coming under the applied scope of registration with the original Questionnaire to check that there is no discrepancy. Any discrepancy shall be taken up with the client and differences resolved prior to acceptance of work.

Based on the contract review for the Standards of ISO Certification Services is Applied for, AMS shall determine the competences needed to be included in its audit team and for the certification decision

QM /AM in consultation with CEO shall proceed for finalizing the audit team. The audit team shall be appointed and composed of auditors (and technical experts, as necessary) who, between them, have the totality of the competences identified by AMS in application review for the certification of the applicant organization. The selection of the team shall be performed with reference to the designations of competence of auditors and technical experts and may include the use of both internal and external human resources. The selection of the team comprising of Auditors/ Auditor Team including Technical Expert are selected as per AMS Procedure.

The individual(s) who will be conducting the certification decision shall be appointed ensuring appropriate competence.

Initial Certification Audit ( Stage 1 Audit):

Stage 1 Audit:

AMS proceeds with Initial Certification Audit (Stage-1) audit activity on completion of contract review and acceptance for AMS certification agreements. Stage 1 audit which is conducted before the Certification audit at client’s option to provide a macro level assessment of the status of implementation and identification of any major deficiencies in the compliance of the documented quality system with the requirements of the certification standards, for corrective actions to be taken in advance of the certification audit. It provides valuable inputs to give confidence to the clients and saves time for taking necessary corrective action, later. Stage 1 audit is done in all cases and it is also ensured that the auditor signs the conflict of interest before every visit.

Stage I audit is intended to:

  •   Ensure that the clients management system documentation meets the requirements of the applicable standard/specification.

  •   To collect information foe planning of stage II audit and determine the client’s readiness for stage II audit including interval between stage I and Stage II audits.

Stage I audit shall have an audit plan as per format AMS-F-005. Normally the Stage I audit shall be performed at client’s site. In exceptional cases stage I could be carried out without a visit (off site). Such decision shall be justified in audit report, which may be based on the client’s size, location, risk consideration, previous knowledge, etc. In such situation the client’s management shall be informed that the planning of stage II audit might not be accurate.

The stage 1 audit shall be conducted on site as per the man-days defined in the Contract Review. Audit shall start with opening meeting and shall be concluded with closing meeting in which client shall be informed about the readiness for Stage 2 audit.

The audit shall be performed:

  •   to audit the client's management system documentation;

  •   to evaluate the client's location and site-specific conditions and to undertake discussions with the client's personnel to determine the preparedness for the stage 2 audit and a) Verify Quotation Information;

  •   to collect necessary information regarding the scope of the management system, processes and location(s) of the client, and related statutory and regulatory aspects and compliance (e.g. quality, environmental, legal aspects of the client's operation, associated risks, etc.)

  •   The OHSAS management system includes adequate processes to identify the organizations OHS hazards and determine their significances as well.

  •   The OHS management system provides an adequate description of the organization and its on-site processes.

  •   The organization has identified PRPs appropriate to the business (e.g. regulatory and statutory requirements)

  •   Food safety legislation is in place for the relevant sector(s) of the organization

  •   FSMS implementation programme justifies proceeding to the Stage 2 audit

  •   The FSMS documents and arrangements are in place to communicate internally and with relevant suppliers, customers and interested parties

  •   Additional documentation needs to be reviewed and/or what knowledge needs to be obtained in advance.

  •   Where an organization has implemented an externally developed combination of control measures, the stage 1 audit shall review the documentation included in the FSMS to determine if the combination of control measures is suitable for the organization, was developed in compliance with the requirements of ISO 22000, and is kept up to date. The availability of relevant authorizations should be checked when collecting the information regarding the compliance to regulatory aspects.

  •   For combined audits the information gathered during Stage 1 must include the following points (in addition to the above objectives)

i) The level of integration of the organization’s management system (s)

ii) The ability of the organizations personnel (at the time of the audit) to respond to questions relating to

Stage 2 Audit

Stage II audit is intended to:

a) Ensure that the clients management system conforms to the requirements of the applicable standard/specification including its effectiveness.

b) To provide guidelines for associated follow up audits/ surveillance audit and recertification audit.

The purpose of the stage 2 audit is to evaluate the implementation, including effectiveness, of the client's management system. The stage 2 audit plan is verified to ensure that the majority of the audit time is given to verify the effective implementation of the management system in the locations where the organization’s activities takes place including on-site audits of temporary sites for OHSAS (In Management System Audit 80% of the audit time shall be given onsite).

Information For Granting Initial Certification

The information provided by the audit team to AMS for the certification decision shall be as per AMS procedure no. P 07 “Procedure for issue, change and cancellation of certification. and shall include, as a minimum,

  •   the audit reports.

  •   comments on the nonconformities and, where applicable, the correction and corrective actions taken by the client,

  •   a recommendation whether or not to grant certification, together with any conditions or observations. AMS shall make the certification decision on the basis of an evaluation of the audit findings and conclusions and any other relevant information (e.g. public information, comments on the audit report from the client).

AMS Certification Committee shall analyze all information and audit evidence gathered during the stage 1 and stage 2 audits to review the audit findings and agree on the audit conclusions.




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