This procedure covers Complaints received by SISTEMA CERTS clients
or SISTEMA CERTS or against SISTEMA CERTS’s staff related to its working and
behavior.
An
applicant, a certified company or any interested party may lodge a complaint.
This procedure is also publicly available on SISTEMA CERTS website www.sistemacerts.com. SISTEMA
CERTS gives utmost importance to complaint resolution, whether it is from our
clients or from elsewhere. Complaints
may arise due to dissatisfaction from-
a. SISTEMA
CERTS and its working
b. SISTEMA
CERTS’s Staff
c. SISTEMA
CERTS’s Clients
Administration of Complaints:
Any complaint received by SISTEMA CERTS in writing or by e-mail or
telephone in respect of its functions as a certification body or a company
certified by it, shall be recorded in the complain register within 8 working
hours acknowledgement of receipt of the complain shall be provided to complainant
with 2 working days from receipt of the complaint is reviewed by the Managing
Director. If the complaint is found meaningful, it is investigated by the MD
and conclusion is recorded in the complain register within 3 months.
If the complaint is related to the existing client-
a. Managing Director must ensure that the effectiveness of the certified
management system is checked by competent auditor(s), who were not involved
with the client previously.
b. The letter in question is sent to certified client within 14 days of
receiving of complaint and recorded in the complaint register. The
tracking and recording complaints, including actions undertaken in response to
them is maintained.
Investigation:
The
complaint is investigated to assess its meaningfulness. The Managing Director
assigns responsibility of investigation to only those persons who are not
involved in the complaint related activities.
If the complaint is found frivolous, the conclusion is recorded in the
Complaint record and the complaint is closed and the complainant is informed.
If the
received complaint is about audit team’s decision, it is transferred to Appeals
register and dealt with as per Quality Procedure for Appeal Management.
If the
complaint is about our assessment and certification process or staff behavior
the same is looked after by the Managing
Director/HR Head. The involved personnel are not involved in investigation
or resolution process.
If the received complaint is about actual or perceived impartiality of our audit or certification process, the complaint is looked after by the Managing Director and the information is provided to the Impartiality committee. The Impartiality committee monitors the complaint resolution process.
If the received complaint is about our registered and certified clients, the complaint is looked after by the Managing Director, and it is followed up with the Client. Appropriate corrective action is taken. SISTEMA CERTS determines, together with the client and the complainant, whether and, if so to what extent, the subject of the complaint and its resolution shall be made public so no discrimination will occur. Audit and certification process is reviewed to identify any weakness in our audit and certification process, and appropriate corrective or preventive action is taken.
If the complaint is found to be
correct and of such magnitude that might affect our reputation as well as of
ISO standard’s reputation, the client is issued verbal notice to justify or
rectify its deficiency within 14 days. In case the dispute is not resolved, a
written notice of suspension of certificate is issued stating all the facts and
requesting resolution of issue within one month. When the deficiency is not
eliminated within the agreed time, the suspension of the certificate is
extended for 6 months or till next surveillance audit, whichever is earlier.
If the
deficiency is not removed by the due date, the certification is withdrawn and
information is posted on the website. The Complainant is kept updated about the
action taken subsequent to their complaint. Relevant information is provided to
the accreditation body.
Resolution of Complaint:
All complaints are initially looked by the Managing Director or who assigns responsibilities of investigation and resolution to appropriate employees or empanelled personnel. Summary of action taken to resolve complaint, is recorded in the Complaint disposal register. The complainant is updated about action taken.
After addressing the complaint, a formal notice of the end of the complaints-handling process is forwarded to the complainant.
In case the client or the complainant, desires that the result of complaint investigation and action taken should be made public, SISTEMA CERTS makes the information available to the public to the extent that does not infringe any confidential information of the involved parties.
In case the complaint closure takes more than the 3 months, the issue shall be brought to the notice of the Accreditation body, if applicable.
In case the complainant is not satisfied with
the result of the complaint handling process the issue will be brought to the
knowledge of the impartiality committee. Complaints are not closed out within a timeframe as prescribed then
agreed with the complainant shall be escalated to the SISTEMA CERTSs top
management to ensure that the complaint receives the appropriate priority.