Policies & Procedures
ISO Certifications Group upholds strict procedures and policies to ensure the authenticity and integrity of both the certification process and the certifications we issue. Our commitment to impartiality, proper use of ICG materials, and compliance with established processes guarantees a reliable and credible certification experience for every organization.
This page includes: our policy on impartiality; the procedure for organizations using ICG’s name and certification mark or logo; processes for granting, refusing, maintaining, renewing, suspending, restoring or withdrawing certification or expanding or reducing the scope of certification; processes for handling requests for information, complaints, and appeals.
Processes for granting, refusing, maintaining, renewing, suspending, restoring or withdrawing certification or expanding or reducing the scope of certification
ISO Certifications Group (ICG) has established a clear procedure for granting, suspending, withdrawing, expanding, or reducing a client’s scope of certification when necessary, particularly if the client fails to maintain compliance with certification requirements. Our certification process ensures that a client’s management system meets industry standards for critical business functions, reinforcing public confidence in their organization.
To maintain fairness and impartiality, ICG’s Lead Auditor and Audit Team conduct thorough audits in accordance with established risk management and operational control procedures. Certification decisions (whether approval, suspension, or withdrawal) are made by personnel separate from those conducting the audits, ensuring an objective and transparent certification process.
View Document: ICG-021 Granting, Suspension, Withdrawal and Reduction of Certification Scope
Processes for handling requests for information, complaints, and appeals
ISO Certifications Group has dedicated processes for managing information requests, complaints, and appeals, ensuring transparency and continuous improvement. Your feedback is essential in maintaining our integrity and delivering objective results. To submit a request, complaint, or appeal, please contact us using the link below.
Certification Rules & Instructions
After achieving certification, must follow ISO Certifications Group’s guidelines for using its name, certification mark, and logo. To ensure proper usage, please review the document below for detailed rules and instructions. Only organizations certified by ICG are authorized to use these materials in accordance with the provided guidelines.
View Document: ICG-F52 Certification Rules and Instructions
Policy on Impartiality
ISO Certifications Group (ICG) has established this policy to ensure all ICG personnel conduct auditing, certification, and other applicable activities in an impartial manner. Being impartial, and being perceived to be impartial, is necessary for ICG to deliver certification that provides confidence. As a result, it is important that all internal and external personnel are aware of the need for impartiality.
Conformity assessment activities shall be undertaken by ICG impartially. ICG shall be responsible for the impartiality of its conformity assessment activities and not allow commercial, financial, or other pressures to compromise impartiality. ICG recognizes that the source of revenue is its Client paying for certification, and that this is a potential threat to impartiality.
To obtain and maintain confidence, ICG shall base decisions on objective evidence of conformity (or nonconformity) obtained by ICG and ensure that its decisions are not influenced by other interests or by other parties. Threats to impartiality will be identified and controlled to ensure impartiality is maintained in all of ICG’s business activities.
All ICG personnel and auditors are required to comply with this policy. ICG has established ICG-011 Operational Controls to implement and maintain effective control of certification activities including impartiality. ICG has established ICG-009 Risk Management to control the risk of certification activities in
relation to impartiality.
PREASSESSMENT AUDITS
A pre-assessment audit is performed with the same independence and objectivity as a certification audit. The auditor(s) will conduct activities such as documentation review, process review, interview of process owners, etc, in order to gather the necessary information that evidence compliance.
VERIFICATION AUDITS
Verification Audits are conducted by the ICG’s auditors as an independent third party that verifies that your organizations’ quality management system conforms to the ISO 9001 standard.
CERTIFICATION AUDITS
Certification Audits are conducted by the ICG’s auditors as an independent third party that rely on certification, for the purpose of certifying that the organizations’ quality management systems conform with the ISO 9001 standard.
CERTIFICATION TRANSFERS
Transfer your Certification from one Certification Body to ISO Certifications Group at any stage.