Certification & Verification Process & Application - Accredited Certification International Limited

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Certification & Verification Process & Application

Process

1 Enquiry and Submit the Application

Clients are requested to provide those documents:

Application Form
Questionnaire
Business Registration or Certificate of Incorporation
Organization Chart as well as other forms as required.

ACI will process the application when received all the information and supporting documents.

2 Accept & Submit Certification Contract

ACI will prepare the Contract when received all the information and supporting documents.

After you submit the contract and application fee for approval, then the application takes it to the next step.

3 Submit System Manual & Procedure for review

The system manual would be prepared and submitted to ACI for assessment. Assessment result shall be notified. Non-conformities shall be addressed, revised and reassessed until all the requirements have been met.

If there are not any Non-conformities found in the manual review, ACI will arrange the First Stage Assessment (required for Certain Certification only) & Certification Audit.

If there is any problem in manual review, client needs to submit the System Manual & Procedure for review again.

4 First Stage Assessment (required for certain certification only)

First Stage Assessment to confirm feasibility of the management systems for Certification Audit.

To fulfill the validity of First Stage Assessment, 3 months record are necessary. Besides, clients have to conduct at least 1 complete internal audit and 1 complete management review.

Also, some other audit programs needed to be discussed:

Re-assure the Organization Name & Address

Purpose and Scope of Certification

Applicable Standard for Audit

Auditing team manpower involved

The Audit Date and Schedule

5 Certification Audit

Certification Audit (CA) covers all core functions of an organization based on sampling approach. Audit result will be reported to client during closing meeting.

To fulfill the validity of certification audit, 3 months records are necessary. Besides, clients have to conduct at least 1 complete internal audit and 1 complete management review. During Certification Audit, auditors will verify the implementation of management system which is in accordance with the standard specification, ACI Regulations and other relevant internal or external requirements.

If there are not any Non-conformities found in the audit, ACI will prepare the Recommendation for Certification and Approved the Certification.

If there is any problem in manual review, client needs to submit the Corrective Action Plan or Follow Up Visit until the audit is passed.

Normal Audit Process

The following is a process of a typical audit. It is for reference only subject to relevant requirements of ACI, certification and accreditation and the practical operations of the client organization.

1. Opening Meeting
2. Auditors conduct the audit according to the audit plan to audit
a. various departments
b. various functions, projects, service locations, operations under the audit scope
c. interview various representatives of the client such as top management, management, department heads/representatives, frontline supervisors or workers
3. Audit team meetings during the audit
4. Report Preparation
5. Closing meeting
6. Non-conformities follow up, if any

6 Recommendation for Certification and Approved Certification

Upon successfully completion of Certification Audit, Auditors will consolidate audit results and submit the audit report to ACI for approval of certificate issuance. Validity of the Certificate is 3 years. Routine Surveillance Visits (SV) will be conducted in due course to assure certificate maintenance and continuous improvement. A Reassessment will be carried out before the Certificate expires.

7 Regular Surveillance Visits

Surveillance Visit is at Sample audit of system. It will be check on:

The Complaints and Remedial Action

The Compliance and Continual Improvement

The use of logo.

The frequency of SV depends on the stability and maturity of the management system. A Reassessment is similar to certification audit but with less assessor day. It will be carried out before the certificate expires.