Impartiality Policy

A-Professional Certification Services Limited (APC) is committed to impartiality in carrying out management systems auditing and certification activities.

To this effect, APC shall not provide certification if its relationship with client organization poses an unacceptable risk to impartiality. APC shall take action to respond to any threats to its impartiality arising from the actions of other persons, bodies or organizations.

To ensure impartiality, APC shall not:

Certify another certification body for its management system certification activities.
Offer or provide management system consultancy.
Certify a management system on which a client has received management system consultancy or internal audits within the previous two years, where the relationship between the consultancy organization and APC poses an unacceptable threat to the impartiality of the certification body.
Conduct Internal audit of clients certified by APC
Be marketed or offered as linked with the activities of any other organization that provides management system consultancy
Outsource audits to management system consultancy organizations
Assign individuals including those in managerial capacity to audit or certification activities of those management system where they have provided management system consultancy within 2 years.

The following points further elaborate the impartiality policy of APC:

APC shall not state or imply that certification would be simpler, easier, faster or less expensive.
APC or its employees shall not interfere or participate in decision processes of management system issues.
APC & its employees shall not participate in preparation and procurement of manuals, guides, Formats and procedures.
APC shall not provide specific and detailed advice or training on design, implementation and maintenance of management systems subject to certification.
There shall be no pressure of any kind (Financial, Trade, Administrative, Competitive, Moral and other) over APC and the personnel regarding the execution of its obligations as a Certification Body.
When certain relations create unacceptable impartiality threat, then the certification shall not be conducted.
When potential impartiality threat arises APC eliminates it or decreases it. This process is also controlled by the impartiality committee by holding a meeting at regular intervals.
APC shall not allow any pressure from other certification bodies to influence the certification process in the organization. If another certification body declines to provide service for client and the client requests the same service form APC than APC shall investigate the reasons for declining, before performing any other certification activities for the respective client.
APC shall not allow pressure from clients and/or consultancy organizations.

Risk Management

APC conducts, and documents, analyses to identify potential conflicts of interests for each potential certification client. Where a risk to impartiality is identified then possible mitigation strategies are identified. As part of this process, members of the audit team will complete and sign declarations of any potential conflicts of interest, which may state that there is no conflict of interest, with each client with which they are involved.

APC top management will review each case to ensure that any residual risk is within the level of acceptable risk.

Marketing

APC shall not be marketed or offered as linked with the activities of an organization that provides management system consultancy. APC shall take action to correct inappropriate links or statements by any consultancy organization stating or implying that certification would be simpler, easier, faster or less expensive if the APC were used. APC shall not state or imply that certification would be simpler, easier, faster or less expensive if a specified consultancy organization were used.

Personnel

All APC personnel, either internal or external, or committees, who could influence the certification activities, shall act impartially and shall not allow commercial, financial or other pressures to compromise impartiality

APC shall require personnel, internal and external, to reveal any situation known to them that may present them or the certification body with a conflicts of interests. APC shall record and use this information as input to identifying threats to impartiality raised by the activities of such personnel or by the organizations that employ them, and shall not use such personnel, internal or external, unless they can demonstrate that there is no conflict of interest.