ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 Clause 4.2 · Document: POL-001 · Rev 1.0
1. Policy Statement
BCERT LTD is committed to impartiality in its certification activities. The management of BCERT and its personnel will not allow commercial, financial or other pressures to compromise impartiality. BCERT identifies, analyses and documents the possibilities for conflict of interests arising from provision of certification including any conflicts arising from its relationships. This commitment extends to all personnel, internal and external, who could influence certification activities.
2. Threats to Impartiality
BCERT identifies and manages the following categories of threats:
- Self-interest threat — financial or other interests that could influence certification decisions
- Self-review threat — reviewing one's own work or advice
- Familiarity threat — excessive closeness to the certified organisation
- Intimidation threat — pressure to make a particular decision
- Competition threat — competing with the certified organisation
3. Safeguards
- BCERT does not provide management system consultancy to any organisation
- A mandatory 2-year cooling-off period applies to auditors who have provided consultancy to a client
- Auditors declare any conflicts of interest before each assignment
- Certification decisions are made by personnel who did not conduct the audit
- An Impartiality Committee with external stakeholder representation oversees operations
4. Impartiality Committee
The committee comprises representatives from key stakeholder groups and meets regularly to review potential threats to impartiality. Members include industry representatives, client representatives, and independent technical experts.
5. Reporting Concerns
Any person may report a concern about BCERT's impartiality through our complaints process. All concerns are investigated confidentially.