NEWS

Starting with 27.05.2008, SRAC has been accredited as EMAS environmental verifier, with the accreditation certificate RO-V-0002, issued by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. With a working group of 7 persons, SRAC has the ability to validate environmental declarations for those scopes it has been accredited for.

EMAS, the most efficient instrument of the sustainable development, represents:
• PERFORMANCE – EMAS is a voluntary environmental scheme  that aims to  improve the environmental performance of organizations, by the means of their own commitment to evaluating and reducing their environmental impacts;

• CREDIBILITY – Through the external and independent nature of the registration and verification process, as well as through the public availability of the information from the validated environmental declaration, EMAS ensures the public credibility and reliability;

• TRANSPARENCY – One of the main objectives of EMAS is the public information through the environmental declaration. This provides information to the public on the environmental impact and performance of that organization and on the manner in which it actively involves, through its employees, in the implementation of EMAS.

For additional information, click here.

ISO/IEC 17021:2006, The Conformity Assessment – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems, replaces EN 45012:1998 (ISO/IEC 62:1996 Guide) and ISO/IEC 66:1999 Guide.

SRAC certificates are internationally recognized, as SRAC is accredited as certification body by ESYD – Hellenic Accreditation System S.A (Greece), that is signatory organism of EA MLA.

RvA, full-member of the European and international bodies, EA, IAF and ILAC, is also a signatory of the MLA agreement.

This renewal of the accreditation, in compliance with the new reference standard, proves once more that SRAC is the most important Romanian brand in the field of management systems certification.

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and the IAF (International Accreditation Forum) have agreed on an implementation plan to ensure a smooth transition of accredited certification to ISO 9001:2008, the latest version of the worlds most widely used standard for quality management systems (QMS). The details of the plan are given in the joint communiqué by the two organizations which appears below.

Like all of ISOs more than 17 000 standards, ISO 9001 is periodically reviewed to ensure that it is maintained at the state of the art and a decision taken to confirm, withdraw or revise the document.

ISO 9001:2008, which is due to be published before the end of the year, will replace the year 2000 version of the standard which is implemented by both business and public sector organizations in 170 countries. Although certification is not a requirement of the standard, the QMS of about one million organizations have been audited and certified by independent certification bodies (also known in some countries as registration bodies) to ISO 9001:2000.

ISO technical committee ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance, which is responsible for the ISO 9000 family of standards, is preparing a number of support documents explaining what the differences are between ISO 9001:2008 and the year 2000 version, why and what they mean for users. Once approved, these documents will be posted on the ISO Web site – probably in October 2008.

Joint IAF-ISO communicate

Implementation of accredited certification to ISO 9001:2008

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and the IAF (International Accreditation Forum) have agreed on implementation plan to ensure a smooth migration of accredited certification to ISO 9001:2008, after consultation with international groupings representing quality system or auditor certification bodies, and industry users of ISO 9001 certification services.

ISO 9001:2008 does not contain any new requirements

They have recognized that ISO 9001:2008 introduces no new requirements. ISO 9001:2008 only introduces clarifications to the existing requirements of ISO 9001:2000 based on eight years of experience of implementing the standard world wide with about one million certificates issued in 170 countries to date. It also introduces changes intended to improve consistency with ISO14001:2004
The agreed implementation plan in relation to accredited certification is therefore the following:
Accredited certification to the ISO 9001:2008 shall not be granted until the publication of ISO 9001:2008 as an International Standard.
Certification of conformity to ISO 9001:2008 and/or national equivalents shall only be issued after official publication of ISO 9001:2008 (which should take place before the end of 2008) and after a routine surveillance or recertification audit against ISO 9001:2008.
Validity of certifications to ISO 9001:2000
One year after publication of ISO 9001:2008 all accredited certifications issued (new certifications or re-certifications) shall be to ISO 9001:2008.
Twenty four months after publication by ISO of ISO 9001:2008, any existing certification issued to ISO 9001:2000 shall not be valid.
Source: ISO Website, Communique ISO and IAF announce schedule for implementation of accredited certification to ISO 9001:2008, Ref: 1152 of 20 August 2008, that can be viewed at http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1152

Foreword

SA8000 is an auditable standard for a third-party certification system, setting out the voluntary requirements to be met by employers in the workplace, including workers’ rights, workplace conditions and management systems. The normative elements of this standard are based on national law, international human rights law and the conventions of the ILO (International Labour Organization).

The SA8000 workplace standard is the benchmark against which companies and factories measure their performance. Those seeking to comply with SA8000 shall adopt policies and procedures that protect the basic human rights of workers.

In June 2008, the third edition of SA8000 -- SA8000:2008, Social Accountability 8000, was formally adopted and released by SAI (Social Accountability International). It replaces the currently valid SA8000:2001.

Preparation for transition 
• The organizations certified in compliance with SA8000:2001 have a period of 1 year and half to reach transition to 2008 edition. The transition period shall end at January the 1^st 2010. All the assessments for transition should be conducted at the latest during the last surveillance audit scheduled for the year 2009, in order to allow the correction of the potential non-conformities and to avoid a period without a valid certificate.
• For the existing certified organizations no extra audits are required to switch to the third edition of SA8000. The transition to the new standard will be part of a regular scheduled audit and the certificates issued shall have the same validity as the existing ones, referencing SA8000:2008.
• IQNet Ltd audit teams shall verify the effective implementation of the new requirements. Before the assessment for the transition to the new reference standard, it is necessary that all the SA8000:2008 requirements to be implemented. The organizations shall provide adequate evidence to ensure that the requirements of the new revision are understood and implemented at all levels of the organization.
• According to the established transition period, no certificate against the 2001 edition shall be valid after January the 1^st 2010.
• The certificates issued against the reference standard SA8000:2001 shall have the maximum validity until  January the 1^st 2010. After this date, no further audits shall be conducted against the 2001 edition.
• IQNet Ltd is starting with auditing against the new revision from January the 1^st 2009 and as of June the 1^st 2009 the certification audits will be conducted only based on SA8000:2008.

Changes in the new SA8000
In revising the standard the SAI Advisory Board sought to maintain the level of requirements. Overall the majority of changes were made to clarify areas of the standard where there were frequent questions.

Some of the changes in the new SA8000:2008 include:
• Overall, there are more explicit protections for workers’ right to organize and employers’ obligation to not interfere or seek to influence workers’ choices. Some flexibility has been added, under working hours and discipline, for cases where a freely negotiated collective bargaining agreement allows it.
• The standard drafters added emphasis to clarify that the SA8000 worker representative in no circumstances – shall be seen as a substitute for trade unions.
• SA8000:2008 also includes more explicit language about health and safety, compulsory labor, and discrimination, which now includes a prohibition of pregnancy testing (although that was always considered discriminatory).
• The management systems requirements are also more explicit, particularly those relating to internal review and communications, stakeholder engagement and grievance handling.
• Written company policy on social accountability and labour conditions and procedures for the remediation of children found to be working, and evaluation and selection of suppliers and sub-contractors are required.
• SA8000:2008 also makes explicit that the remediation of children found to be working requires financial support for that remediation.
• One thing that is new is a specific prohibition against engagement in human trafficking in the newly renamed Forced and Compulsory Labor section.

The new edition of SA8000:2008, is available from the IQNet Ltd website and also available on SAI Website at http://www.sa-intl.org/.

In order to facilitate the understanding of the changes, SAI has made available also SA8000:2001 and SA8000:2008 versions side-by-side (http://www.sa-intl.org/).

Copies of the above-mentioned documents are also available on IQNet Ltd Website, at http://www.iqnet-ltd.com/index.php?liv1=2&liv2=55&liv3=11.

Bern, 09 September 2008


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is constituted as an informal group of quality management system (QMS) experts, auditors and practitioners, drawn from the ISO Technical Committee 176 Quality Management and Quality Assurance (ISO/TC 176) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).

This website has been established as an on-line source of papers and presentations on auditing QMSs. The ideas, examples and explanations given reflect the process-based approach that is essential for auditing the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 Quality management systems - Requirements.

The papers and presentations that make up the content of this website are not definitive. They reflect a number of different views in QMS auditing. As such, their content may not always be consistent. It is not intended that the website content will be used as specified requirements, an industry benchmark, or as criteria that all QMS auditors, consultants or practitioners have to follow.

QMS auditing topics
•    The need for a 2-stage approach to auditing
•    Measuring QMS effectiveness and improvements
•    Identification of processes
•    Understanding the process approach
•    Determination of the “where appropriate” processes
•    Auditing the "where appropriate" requirements
•    Demonstrating conformity to the standard
•    Linking an audit of a particular task, activity or process to the overall system
•    Auditing continual improvement
•    Auditing a QMS which has minimum documentation
•    How to audit top management processes
•    The role and value of the audit checklist 
•    Scope of ISO 9001:2000, Scope of Quality Management System and Defining Scope of Certification
•    How to Add Value during the audit process
•   
•    Auditing competence and the effectiveness of actions taken
•    Auditing Statutory and Regulatory requirements
•    Auditing Quality Policy, Quality Objectives, and Management Review
•    Auditing ISO 9001, Clause 7.6 Control of monitoring and measuring equipment
•    Making effective use of ISO 19011
•    Auditing Customer Feedback processes
•    Documenting a Nonconformity
•    Guidance for reviewing and closing nonconformities
•    Auditing Internal Communications
•    Auditing Preventive Action
•    Auditing Service Organizations
•    Third Party Auditor Impartiality and Conflict of Interest
•    Auditing the Effectiveness of the Internal Audit
•    Auditing Electronic Based Management Systems
•    Auditing the Management of Resources
•    Auditing Customer Communications
•    Auditing the Design and Development Process
•    Auditor Code of Conduct and Ethics
•    Guidance on Cultural Aspects of Auditing
•    Output Matters!
•    Auditing the Procurement and Supply Chain Processes
•    Added Value Audits versus Consultancy
•    Writing Audit Reports

Feedback from users will be used by the ISO 9001 Auditing Practices Group to determine whether additional guidance documents should be developed, or if these current ones should be revised.Comments on the papers or presentations can be sent to the following email address: charles.corrie@bsi-global.com.

Useful web sites:
http://www.iaf.nu
www.iso.org/tc176/ISO9001AuditingPracticesGroup

Disclaimer
The contributions on this website have not been subject to an endorsement process by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), ISO Technical Committee 176 or the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).
The information contained on this website is available to the public for educational and communication purposes and the ISO 9001 Auditing Practice Group does not take responsibility for any errors, omissions or other liabilities that may arise from the provision or subsequent use of such information.

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