Rules of the System of Assessment and Registration
Guardian Independent Certification
Guardian Independent Certification Ltd (GIC) is private limited company accredited by internationally recognised accreditation bodies, financed through paid up shares, the shareholders being GIC Group Pte Ltd.
GIC scheme of certification provides independent third party assurance of an applicant’s management system ability to produce and deliver goods and services to defined specifications.
GIC has the rights and responsibilities for its activities, including maintaining, extending, reducing, suspending, granting and withdrawing of certification.
GIC understands the importance of and is committed to impartiality in carrying out management system certification activities, by managing any conflict of interest and ensuring objectivity of assessment.
GIC will not market or offer as linked with activities of an organisation that provides management system consultancy. GIC will take action to correct inappropriate claims by any consultancy organisation stating or implying that certification would be simpler, easier, faster, or less expensive if GIC were used. GIC will not state or imply that certification would be simpler, easier, faster or less expensive if specified consultancy organisation were used.
GIC will not be responsible for any liabilities, claims, costs, expense, loss or damage made by certified clients in failing to sustain the management system as a result of any negligent act.
Enquiries
Please email your application request to enquiry@gicg.co.uk to receive a questionnaire. Upon completion and return of the questionnaire, our Certification Manager will prepare a quotation based on your requirement.
GIC will provide its certification service to any applicant operating within the defined geographic region, technical sector and/ or part of a sector where GIC has granted with the accredited scopes. GIC will not discriminate against any applicant by delaying, speeding up or rejecting the applications. GIC will assess the application based on scope’s requirements to approve the certification. Regardless of any circumstance, GIC will conduct audits in accordance to GIC procedures and specified requirements without any special treatment or preferences.
Applications
Upon acceptance of the quotation, the applicant must complete the registration form and return to GIC together with the application fee in the form of cheque along with their management system documentation.
The applicant must have a management representative who is responsible for ensuring the management system meets the requirements of the relevant management system standard (e.g. ISO9001, ISO14001, ISO22000, ISO27001, OHSAS 18001). This person will be the contact point between the applicant and GIC.
A qualified lead auditor is appointed to examine and report on the documentation. If possible, the same auditor should be carrying out the physical assessment to ensure the system is implemented according to the requirements of the relevant management system standard.
The applicant has the right to object to the inclusion of any auditor proposed by GIC on the grounds of competency or possible conflict of interest.
GIC reserves the right to decline any applicant without any valid reason.
The applicant will be invoiced accordingly. The assessment fee must be paid prior to the assessment.
Accessibility
The applicant must make all premises they wish detailed on the certificate available to the assessor together with any other relevant sites.
Certificate
An applicant who meets the requirements of the scheme will be issued a GIC certificate. The certificate remains the property of Guardian Independent Certification Limited.
If a certificated organisation intends to discontinue their certification, they must notify GIC in writing minimum two months before the due date of the next surveillance visit.
GIC Certification Mark
The Certification Mark must always be accompanied with the organisation’s certificate number and must only be used in conjunction with the certificated organisation’s name. The Mark must only be used in connection with the scope detailed on the certificate. The certificated organisation must not offer the certificated scope from any other address than that stated on the certificate except on a related site(s). The Mark must not be used in any way that would indicate product approval. The certificated organisation must discontinue any use of the Mark that is unacceptable to GIC. The certificated organisation must withdraw any statement regarding the Mark that GIC deems misleading. If certification is withdrawn or suspended, the certificated organisation must immediately remove both the Mark and all references to certification.
Upon certification, the certificated organisation will be provided with detailed instructions on the use and application of the GIC Certification Mark and associated marks, depending on the particular scheme applied for and whether it is accredited or non-accredited.
The GIC Certification Mark must not be used on laboratory test, calibration, or inspection reports.
The GIC Certification Mark must not be used on any part of the product, product packaging or in any manner which imply product approval.
UKAS and JAS-ANZ Marks
A certificated organisation is entitled to use the UKAS and/or JAS-ANZ marks in conjunction with the GIC certification mark provided that GIC is accredited for the scope which the organisation comply to. The organisation may use the UKAS and/or JAS-ANZ marks on their letterheads, advertising material, and brochures except on business cards, products or flags.
Certification and Notification of Changes
In order to maintain the certification, any certified organisation must:
- Ensure that all work is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the relevant management system standard (e.g. ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 22000, ISO 27001, OHSAS 18001).
- Maintain a master copy of the documented Management System.
- Notify GIC of any important changes to the documented Management System apart from than ongoing improvement.
- Notify GIC of any important changes to the organisation and its management.
- Notify GIC of any changes to contact address and permanent sites.
- Notify GIC of any changes to scope of operations.
- Be prepared for checks on any changes if necessary during the routine surveillance visit.
- Present all revised documentation to the assessor during each surveillance visit.
- Ensure that all sub-contacted work is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the certificated system.
- Allow the assessor to access to all references to certification which are removed in the event of certificate withdrawal.
Obligations of Certified Clients
Any certified client should abide by the following obligations:
- You must conform to the requirements of GIC when making references to certification status in any media communication, collaterals and/ or other documents.
- You must not make or permit any misleading statement regarding its certification.
- You must not use or permit use of all and/ or part of your certificate in any misleading manner.
- If your certification is withdrawn or suspended, you must discontinue its use in advertising that contains reference to the certification.
- If the scope of certification has been reduced, you must amend any communications and/ or advertising collaterals accordingly.
- You must not allow reference to your management system certification to be used to imply certification of your product, service or process.
- You must not imply that certification applies to activities outside the scope of certification.
- You must not use your certification in such a manner that it could bring the GIC certification system into dispute.
Fees
The fees due to an applicant or certificated organisation are as follows:
- Application fee for initial registration and the documentation examination.
- Assessment fee for the physical assessment and issuance of the certificate.
- Reassessment fee should the applicant/ organisation fails the first assessment.
- Surveillance fee for each surveillance visit.
Note: The details of the fee structure will be highlighted in the quotation and will remain in force for a period of three years.
Surveillance & Reassessment
GIC will carry out a minimum of one surveillance visit annually to ensure the certificated organisation is maintaining its management system. If serious non-conformances are discovered, the organisation will be given a specific time to carry out corrective actions. Furthermore, the next surveillance visit will be brought forward or a reassessment will be carried out at GIC's discretion.
GIC’s surveillance visits are to monitor the performance of a certificated organisation.
A reassessment/ recertification will be carried out three years after the initial assessment. Duration and depth of the reassessment will dependent on the performance of the organisation. Any complaints against the organisation will be taken into consideration as part of the reassessment items.
Confidentiality
The only information GIC will divulge about any certificated organisation is the information detailed on the certificate. GIC is obliged by formal agreement with its accreditation body and/ or the regulatory body is to provide information to a regulatory body of any certified organisation.
When confidential information is made available to other bodies by GIC (e.g. to accreditation bodies, government agencies), GIC will inform the client accordingly in prior.
Compliants against a Certified Organisation
GIC will notify a certificated organisation of any complaint received from a customer and/ or other party. GIC will investigate on the complaint and take any relevant action during the next surveillance visit. If the complaint is related to a client's certified activities, GIC will re-examine the effectiveness of the certified management system.
GIC requires any certificated organisation to maintain a Complaints File detailing their customers’ complaints and remedial actions. Complaints and customer feedback will be examined by the auditor during each surveillance/ reassessment visit.
Certificate Suspension or Withdrawal
Clients will be informed by GIC if the certification is being suspended and the duration of suspension.
Upon maturity of suspension, GIC will carry out evaluation to decide whether the certificate should be reinstated. GIC reserves the right to withdraw any client’s certification should the client fails to comply with the scheme regulations.
Disputes
In the event of any dispute arising from GIC operations, the Scheme Manager or Certification Manager is responsible to submit sufficient details to the GIC Independent Certification Board (ICB). The ICB shall be responsible for appointing suitable persons to investigate matters pertaining to the dispute. The ICB shall be responsible for impose remedial or conciliatory actions appropriately. Records of disputes and actions taken shall be recorded in the ICB minutes. These records must be retained for minimum six years.
Complaints against GIC and Appeals
Any complaint against GIC must be submitted in writing to either the Certification Manager or Scheme Manager stating specific details of the complaint. An internal investigation will be conducted followed by tracking and concluding on corrective action(s) to be taken.
If an applicant or certificated organisation wishes to appeal against the composition of the audit team in relation to the credentials of any proposed auditor/ technical experts, they must write to the Certification Manager within three days from receipt of GIC's Assessment Programme.
If an applicant or certificated organisation wishes to appeal against any certification decision, they must write to the Certification Manager within 14 days from receipt of GIC letter.
The Scheme Manager will arrange for the Appeals Committee to meet within 30 days upon receipt of the appeal. Any decision will stand until revoked by the Appeals Committee. At the appeal meeting, both the applicant or certified organisation and the assessor will be summoned to state their case in private. The decision of the Appeal Committee shall be final and shall not be subjected to further appeals.
Revisions
The assessed scope may be revised on application to GIC. Simple extensions of scopes may be examined during a surveillance visit. More complex extensions may require a special audit visit.
GIC reserves the right to revise the scheme regulations within the rules for accreditation. Any revision in regulations will not immediately implicate on the rights of any certificated organisation to GIC logo’s usage since they will be given six months to comply with any new regulation.
Registrar
GIC maintains a registrar of certificated organisations which is updated every six months. It lists all certificate holders along with their addresses and certificated scopes. This registrar is made available to any enquirer and is being distributed to all certificated organisations when necessary.
GIC reserves the right to publish details of any certification withdrawal in the registrar.
For more information, please email or contact us as follows:
Guardian Independent Certification Ltd
10 Ubi Crescent
#03-66 Ubi Techpark (Lobby D)
Singapore 408564
Tel: +65 6749 6702
Fax: +65 6749 6703
Email: enquiry@gicg.co.uk