Information on the transition to accreditation as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015
Notices
We hereby inform all interested parties that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published, on 15th June 2015, ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 - Conformity assessment - Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems - Part 1: Requirements. Therefore, the Institute for Standardization of Serbia published, on 29th December 2015, SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 that is identical to ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015.
SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 replaced SRPS ISO/IEC 17021:2011 and hence it is necessary for all certification bodies providing certification of management systems that were accredited by ATS and those that will be granted accreditation to analyse the requirements of the new standard and make the necessary changes – to harmonise their management systems and certification systems and to fully apply SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015.
At its 2014 General Assembly meeting held in Vancouver the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) made a decision that the transition period for the implementation of ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 would be two years from the date of publication. Therefore, IAF published an informative document (IAF ID11:2015) and posted it on its website as it contains information of importance to accreditation and certification bodies on the transition to the new edition of the standard.
Having in mind the aforementioned and ATS’s status as the signatory to the IAF MLA, ATS hereby informs accredited certification bodies providing certification of management systems and those CBs that will be granted accreditation that the deadline for the transition to accreditation as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 is 15th June 2017.
Moreover, having in mind the time needed for the adaptation of its documentation and preparation of assessors to assess as per the requirements of the new edition of the standard, ATS hereby informs that it will be ready, as of 1st June 2016, to assess certification bodies as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015.
1. CB Information
1.1 CBs seeking accreditation
ATS will be receiving applications for accreditation as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021:2011 up until 30th April 2016. After this deadline ATS will no longer accept applications for accreditation as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021:2011, but solely as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015.
On 1st June 2016, ATS will start performing assessments as per the requirements of SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1: 2015.
1.2 CBs that will be granted accreditation
Those certification bodies that will be granted accreditation as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021:2011, can, depending on their needs, finalise the procedure that was initiated as per the said standard, whereas their transition to accreditation as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 shall be finalised by 15th June 2017 under conditions defined for accredited certification bodies or they can apply to ATS in order to be assessed as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015, but before the SRPS ISO/IEC 17021:2011 accreditation procedure would be finalised, whereas this can be carried out after 1st June 2016.
1.3 ISO/IEC 17021:2011 accredited CBs
All SRPS ISO/IEC 17021:2011 accredited CBs are obliged to prepare their own plans on transition to accreditation as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 where they would define the necessary changes to their management systems or accredited MS certification activities and deadlines within which they would implement these changes for the purpose of complete harmonisation with the requirements of the new edition of the standard, whereras it will be necessary to take into consideration these changes to processes, contractual arrangements, committees and other aspects the implementation of which needs to be finalised within specified time frames.
Certification bodies shall submit to ATS their plans on the transition to accreditation as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 by 1st April 2016 at the latest so that these can be reviewed and harmonised by ATS. The said harmonisation refers, first of all, to deadlines that were defined as such in their plans in order to meet the defined deadline (15th June 2017), whereas ATS’s accreditation rules and procedure should be taken into consideration in case of transition of accreditation as per the new edition of the standard.
ATS will, after the transition plans have been harmonised with CBs, check and assess application and observance of the requirements of the new edition of the standard during regular surveillance assessments or reassessments of accredited CBs, but not before 1st June 2016.
Exceptionally, ATS can, at the CB request, perform a separate assessment (in order to speed up the procedure or when CBs are not ready to be assessed as per the requirements of the new edition of the standard during regular surveillance assessments or reassessments) to confirm the CB transition of accreditation to the new edition of the standard, but not before 1st June 2016 in order to meet the defined deadline (15th June 2017).
If nonconformities are identified during assessments as per the requirements of the new edition of the standard, certification bodies will be obliged to eliminate the cause thereof in accordance with the ATS procedure before decisions on accreditation transition as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 would be made by ATS. CBs must submit to ATS evidences confirming the elimination of identified nonconformities by 15th May 2017 at the latest in order to meet the transition deadline (15th June 2017), whereas the Accreditation Rules must be observed in terms of final deadline for the elimination of identified nonconformities.
ATS will withdraw accreditations granted as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021:2011 in case of those CBs that fail to harmonise their work and management systems with the requirements of SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 within the defined transition period and in case of those CBs for which no decisions on accreditation as per SRPS ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 would be made by 15th June 2017.