Suspension and withdrawal of certification

qms-seal

Strong suspension and withdrawal processes protect your business.

We’ve developed the following guidelines to clearly explain the processes and procedures involved.

Why could my certification be suspended?

Under international accreditation rules, there are various circumstances that could lead to the suspension of your certification:

  • Your management system has persistently or seriously failed to meet the requirements of the standard
  • Mandatory assessments have not been completed at the required frequency
  • You request a voluntarily suspension

During an assessment, if a major non-conformance is raised, you have a 30-day window to address the non-conformance and have the corrective actions verified and closed out. Until the non-conformance is closed out, the status of the certification remains ‘suspended’.

Please note that a major non-conformance may be raised if QMS receives external evidence that a major failure in compliance has occurred. This may happen at any time if we are made aware of a major failure of a client’s management system – not just during a scheduled assessment.

How can my certification be reinstated?

In the case of a major non-conformance, when we are satisfied that the issue has been addressed the non-conformance can be closed out or downgraded. When this happens, the status of the certification immediately goes back to normal – any temporary suspension is removed (assuming the non-conformance resulted in temporary suspension of the certification in the first place).

Why could my certification be withdrawn?

As a certified organisation you may withdraw, or have your certification withdrawn, in any of these circumstances:

  • Voluntary withdrawal – you may decide that your organisation no longer requires certification, in which case you can make a formal request for withdrawal
  • Withdrawal by the certification body – QMS withdraws your certification for justifiable reasons such as:
    • Failure to arrange a mandatory assessment in the appropriate timeframe
    • Non-payment of invoices
    • Failure to address non-conformances in a timely manner

At QMS, we're helping organisations succeed through continual improvement, assessment and certification

Trusted experts

Build and maintain your industry leadership with a trusted certification partner.

Add value

Successful certification adds value to your organisation and improves business outcomes.

Experience counts

With over 25 years experience, there’s nothing our team can’t assist with.