IJCA - Volume 2 - Flipbook - Page 19
2023 | Volume 2, Issue 1
Sometimes, ABs will take the risk and grant
accreditation for noncritical sectors without
auditors or clients based on their demonstrated
competence to carry out certification in other related
scope sectors. In such cases, ABs should use
proper control over such scope sectors and make
mandatory requirements on certification bodies. For
example, ABs can grant accreditation for noncritical
scopes without clients or auditors with a condition
to conduct the witnessing when the CB has the first
client in relation to a particular scope sector.
Converting Risk to Financial Aspects
Concerning the above background, if the
accreditation-providing institution has a clear
understanding of the big picture of risks arising
from its activities, it is feasible to make an informed
decision on the overall level of risk towards the AB
and pass the liabilities that have arisen from its
activities to another. This will necessitate making
arrangements to obtain professional indemnity
insurance coverage (may differ due to different
regulatory frameworks) and/or allocate reserves,
which can be used to cover liabilities arising from
accreditation activities as required in clause 4.5.2
of ISO/IEC 17011:2017. A comparison between two
ABs’ approaches to fulfill the requirements is given
in Table 05. According to the simple comparison in
Table 05, Accreditation Body – A has taken many
steps to cover liabilities arising from its activities,
lowering the risk towards the AB.
TABLE 05: DIFFERENT APPROACHES OF ABs
TO COVER LIABILITIES
Accreditation Body – A
Accreditation Body – B
Covers liabilities from the
following approaches:
Covers liabilities from the
following approaches:
Has obtained a professional
indemnity coverage.
Have fixed deposits/reserves.
The AB has made a
requirement for CABs to
get insurance coverage to
cover the liabilities from
their conformity assessment
services.
From the nature of
government and or
regulations, liabilities are
covered.
Professional indemnity
coverage is obtained.
Effective Use of Quality Management System
Clause 9 of ISO/IEC 17011 requires ABs to establish,
document, implement, and maintain a management
system capable of supporting and demonstrating
the consistent achievement of the requirements
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of ISO/IEC 17011. The management system itself
has a requirement (clause 9.6) for the improvement
of accreditation activities and the management
system through the identification of opportunities
for improvement and risks. Therefore, ABs should
pay due attention to reviewing ABs’ accreditation
activities and processes to identify potential risks
in time and take appropriate actions to prevent any
uncertain situation.
Use of management system tools, such as
identification of nonconformities and taking
corrective actions (clause 9.5 of ISO/IEC 17011), such
as internal audit and management reviews, are also
very important. If an AB is at the very initial stage
(relevant even for a matured AB), it can increase
the frequencies of internal audits and management
reviews in order to minimize the impact of potential
risks.
The implementation of document and record control
procedures with adequate retention times to fulfill
regulatory requirements and protection of records
prevents risks in relation to the use of obsolete
documents and updates the availability of required
documents for operations.
Summary
ISO/IEC 17011:2017 is the international standard
that stipulates requirements for accreditation
bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies.
The requirements of the ISO/IEC 17011 are to
ensure the competence, consistent operation, and
impartiality of accreditation bodies throughout their
accreditation activities. Any effect of uncertainty
in those prime objectives of accreditation services
could be considered as a risk for the accreditation
body. The ISO/IEC 17011 has general, structural,
resource, process, information, and management
system requirements. At the implementation of all
requirements by accreditation bodies, uncertain
situations could occur that will impact prime
objectives. The above technical discussion was
developed based on ISO/IEC 17011, ILAC, and IAF
requirements and guidance while incorporating the
experience gained through operating activities of
accreditation bodies, peer evaluations, and local
and regional training and sessions on sharing
experiences. Therefore, it is expected that there
are many more examples that you may have
experienced, which have not been covered in this
short write-up.
