SQM Certification is established as an Independent Conformity Assessment Body and Training Organization with its main objective to provide its services in the domains of Quality Management Systems, Environmental Management Systems, Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems, Food Safety Management Systems/HACCP, Information Security Management Systems, Business Continuity Management Systems, Information Technology- Service Management Systems, QMS-Automotive Production, Medical Devices-QMS, GMP-Cosmetic Products, Corporate Social Responsibility & Supplier Ethical Data Exchange, Energy Management Systems and Ship Recycling Management Systems.
SQM Certification Services Pvt. Ltd (SQM) is Limited Liability Company registered under The Companies Act, 1956 of India.
SQM is established as a professional organization backed by devoted ,highly qualified and experienced Assessment, Training and Certification personnel and offering a wide spectrum of customer oriented certification and Training services in an efficient and cost effective manner.Impartiality is defined as actual and perceived presence of objectivity (Ref. 3.2 of ISO 17021:2011). Impartiality is the principle holding that decisions are based on objective evidence obtained during assessments, not on the basis of bias or prejudice caused by influence of different interests of individuals or other involved parties. Threats to impartiality are permanently identified, reviewed and controlled by the Advisory Committee for Safeguarding Impartiality.
Impartiality is mainly assured by independence of staff, competence of audit teams, exercising due professional care in conducting the audits, collecting of objective evidence and independent certification decisions.
SQM understands the importance of impartiality in carrying out our management system certification activities and will manage conflicts of interest and ensure the objectivity of related activities.
Competence
SQM adopts a policy of recruiting personnel who possess suitable qualifications and appropriate training and experience. It assesses the resources required to undertake each audit and assign suitably skilled staff to the work, provide a good distribution of skills to auditing tasks and a sufficient number of persons for the audit.
Responsibility
When considering responsibility to assess sufficient objective evidence upon which to base a certification decision, SQM refers to fairness, disinterestedness and factuality. Decisions are taken only when audit related information include everything that is necessary to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion.
Openness
By implementing this principle, SQM establishes rules for providing public access or disclosure of non confidential information by responding positively to requests for information, answer requests for information quickly and helpfully, giving reasons for not providing information where this is not possible, ensuring that there are clear and effective arrangements to deal with complaints and concerns about provided certification services and access to information, and that these arrangements are clearly publicized and effectively monitored.
Confidentiality
SQM ensures that information is accessible only to those interested parties authorized to have access and specific rules are established for auditors, administrative staff and other interested parties. Information related to customers are not used or disclosed for purposes other than registration of the management system without the client’s explicit consent, or where there is a legal justification to do so.
Responsiveness
to complaints All complaints will be investigated and responded to quickly and within specified time targets. The complaint handling process recognizes the need to be fair to both the complainant and the organization or individual against whom the complaint is made and, if the complaint is found to be valid, reasonable effort will be made to resolve the complaint by appropriate measures.
Potential Threats Management of Risks to SQM Impartiality:
In order to continually provide the Impartial Services SQM has identified following potential threats on its impartiality and also addresses the prevention as Preventive Action:
A.1 self-Review:
Providing any Management System Consultancy to any kind of organization or “Internal Audit Service to its any Registered / Applicant Organization”
Marketing or offering its services as being linked with the activities of an organization that provides management system consultancy or promoting any such organization to an applicant organization or involving itself in supply, installation & commissioning of any product or device, which it certifies or its Management System for e.g. Medical Devices.
Contract Review Process.
Assessor Allocation Review.
Certification Decision Review.
A.2 self-Interest:
Application Process influenced by Consultants.
The Organization pays the Money to SQM
Competitive Interests
Stakeholders Interests
Certifying our competitors i.e. Certification Bodies.
A.3 Familiarity (or trust):
Assessors are free from any conflicts of interests
Senior Management Personnel having a Management Consultancy Background at present or in last 2 years being inducted/Recruited.
A.4 Intimidation:
Consultants may try choosing an Auditor.
Consultants may be present at the time of assessment and may intimidate Assessors.
Client applying pressure for an easy Registration
A.5
SQM applies suitable controls when its impartiality may be affected by any consultancy organisation towards its clients or assessors.
A.6
SQM may accept applications for the conduct of the Internal Audits of the Clients however such clients are not considered for its Registration.
A.7
SQM & its auditors are not an authorized representative of the client organization, nor represent the parties engaged in these activities..
This will be achieved by establishing quantifiable and measurable Quality and Business Objectives at relevant functions & levels within SQM. These will be reviewed as a minimum annually and will be linked into the SQM Annual Management Review.