Auditee Guidelines

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Auditee Guidelines and Obligations

IMS Reliance Limited

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Table of Contents Auditee Guidelines and Obligations ............................................................................................................................. 1 IMS Reliance Ltd ......................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... 4

Summary and Purpose .............................................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Scope and Applicability ...................................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Introduction to IMS International ....................................................................................................................... 4

2 QUALITY POLICY ........................................................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Organisational Overview of the Certification Body ........................................................................................... 6 2.2 The Company and the Certification Body ................................................................................................... 7

3.0 The Assessment and Certification Process ..................................................................................................... 8 3.1 Step 1 - Pre-Audit ............................................................................................................................................... 8 3.2 Step 2 - Review of Documentation ..................................................................................................................... 8 3.3 Step 3 - Audit Planning ....................................................................................................................................... 8 3.4 Step 4 - Initial Audit ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Stage 1 audit.............................................................................................................................................................. 8 Stage 2 audit.............................................................................................................................................................. 9 3.5 Step 5 - Clear Down Corrective Actions ............................................................................................................. 9 3.6 Step 6 - Certification ......................................................................................................................................... 10 3.7 Step 7 - Surveillance ......................................................................................................................................... 10 3.8 Step 8 - Further Audit ....................................................................................................................................... 10 3.9 Step 9 - Reassessment ....................................................................................................................................... 11 3.10 Determining period between stages and Back to Back Audits ........................................................................ 11

4. Certification Guidelines .......................................................................................................................................... 12 4.1 Scope ................................................................................................................................................................. 12 4.2 Definition of Organisation ................................................................................................................................ 12 4.3 Supplies outside the Certificated System .......................................................................................................... 12 4.4 UKAS (and ISO/IEC Guide 25) Accreditation ................................................................................................ 12 4.5 Effects on the Environment............................................................................................................................... 13 4.6 Meeting Legal Requirements ............................................................................................................................ 13 4.7 Policy as to when Certification Services shall be available .............................................................................. 13 4.8 Complaints and Complaint Records.................................................................................................................. 13 4.9 Suspension, withdrawal and Cancellation of Certificates ................................................................................. 13 4.10 Statement of Impartiality ................................................................................................................................ 14 4.11 Audit Guides ................................................................................................................................................... 14 4.12 Observers ........................................................................................................................................................ 14

5.0 Complaints and Appeals ................................................................................................................................ 15 6.0 Accredited Scope .......................................................................................................................................... 15 7.0 Rules governing the use of the Certification Mark etc. ................................................................................ 15 8.0 Pricing Guide ................................................................................................................................................ 18

8.1 ISO 9001 ........................................................................................................................................................... 19 8.2 ISO 14001 ......................................................................................................................................................... 20 8.3 Combined Audits: ............................................................................................................................................. 21 8.4 AS 9100, AS 9120 & AS 9110 ......................................................................................................................... 21 8.5 Clear-down of Corrective Actions ............................................................................................................. 22 Major: ..................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Minor: ..................................................................................................................................................................... 23 8.6 Certification Fee ........................................................................................................................................ 24 8.7 Surveillance .............................................................................................................................................. 24 8.8 Further Audits ........................................................................................................................................... 24 8.9 Re-Assessment ......................................................................................................................................... 24 8.10 Types of Organisation Structures .............................................................................................................. 24 Single Site Organisations ........................................................................................................................................ 25 Multisite Organisations ........................................................................................................................................... 25 Campus Certification Structure ............................................................................................................................... 25

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Several Site Certification Structure ......................................................................................................................... 25 Complex Certification Structure ............................................................................................................................. 26 8.11 Aerospace Scheme Feedback Loop ........................................................................................................... 26 9.1 Definitions ................................................................................................................................................ 27 9.2 License to use the Certification Mark and Certificate .............................................................................. 27 9.3 Services to be provided by IMS ................................................................................................................ 28 9.4 Confidentiality ........................................................................................................................................... 28 9.4.1 Openness ................................................................................................................................................... 28 9.5 Duties of the Auditee ................................................................................................................................. 28 9.6 Duties of the Client.................................................................................................................................... 29 9.7 Fees ........................................................................................................................................................... 29 9.8 Postponement and Cancellation ................................................................................................................ 30 9.9 Termination of the Agreement .................................................................................................................. 30 9.10 Related Documents.................................................................................................................................... 30 9.11 General Terms and Conditions .................................................................................................................. 30

10.0 Audit Questionnaire ....................................................................................................................................... 31 11 Document Revision History ........................................................................................................................... 31

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1. Introduction

Summary and Purpose

This document is to provide potential clients and auditees with some of the information they need before they place an order with IMS for assessment services. Much of the information is intended to be the basis of the contract between the client and IMS.

1.1 Scope and Applicability

This document applies to all the auditing services undertaken by IMS International.

1.2 Introduction to IMS International

IMS Reliance Ltd are a UKAS Accredited Certification Body (078) providing third and second party audits to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, AS9100, AS9120, MAC, Product Certifications & TickIT for a large range of industries worldwide. IMS International was first established in 1994 and gained UKAS Accreditation in 1998 for a limited number of scopes. In 2001 the current management of IMS took over the running and ownership of the company. It was decided that a controlled expansion was essential in order to fully meet with the IMS philosophy to deliver a worldwide, value-added service without compromise. This has been achieved by careful planning and re-investment of time and finances. Three years were spent expanding the scope of accredited services IMS was able to offer. It is recognized that we are in a competitive industry and our clients have a wide choice. We strive to keep our costs down, but without neglecting the quality of service, or full compliance with the regulations to which we work. The IMS portfolio now includes a wide range of services so that our clients are better able to meet the ever-changing demands of the market place. Some of the industries we service include Aerospace, MoD, Construction, Engineering & Manufacturing, Education & Training, Waste Management, Retail, IT, and Transport & Distribution. Our high resource level allows IMS to perform inspection, assessment, and qualification and training services for any sized company with any sized needs in rapidly changing industries. This allows clients to draw on our reserves of experience in many sectors. The IMS goal has always been to improve and enhance the technical excellence of its employees and to expand the range and quality of its services. Not only do we meet the needs of every client, we continually seek to exceed them.

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2 QUALITY POLICY

It is the aim of IMS Reliance Ltd to provide a friendly, flexible, high quality service that meets or exceeds the requirements of our customers in every respect. We will strive to achieve this by:

Getting to know our customers, and understanding what is important to them;

Developing our systems and practices to better meet our customers’ needs;

Dealing with customer queries promptly and efficiently;

Developing an ethos that is both friendly and professional;

Reducing bureaucracy for our customers, whilst maintaining high levels of accountability and traceability;

Being flexible and remembering that each customer has their own individual requirements;

Ensuring our fees are as competitive as possible;

Delivering a value-added service in audits and all other dealings with customers;

Continually developing our staff and auditors in order to maintain a highly competent and motivated team;

Continually reviewing our system, processes and procedures to identify opportunities for improvement.

Ensure our systems meet the requirements of ISO 17021, AS9104 and all other legislation applicable to the effective operations of the company

This Policy Defines our commitment to quality, is known and understood by all within our company, and provides the philosophy upon which all our services are planned, developed and monitored.

The other policies are as follows.

Pol.002 No person will be used for certification or assessment work if his/her judgement could be influenced by his/her employer's involvement with the organisation being assessed.

Pol003 Individuals who are involved in certification, including those acting in a managerial capacity or as Governors, shall not have been involved in any consultancy activity for the organisation being assessed, or any organisation related to it, in the preceding two years.

Pol004 The services of the Certification Body shall be available to all organisations equally, subject to acceptable commercial terms, except that no organisation shall be certified if it has employed any employee or shareholder of the Company as a consultant or adviser within the preceding two years.

Pol005 The General Manager shall be free from control and undue influence by anyone with a direct commercial interest in the services to be certificated.

Pol006 Staff will be assigned only to those tasks to which they are suited by virtue of qualifications, training and experience.

Pol.007 Information about clients or auditees shall be held and stored so as to be secure and in confidence, except so far as required by law.

Pol008 Reports about, and other information concerning clients and auditees shall be made available to staff and Governors only so far as they have a need to know.

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2.1 Organisational Overview of the Certification Body

The way in which the Certification Body works is broadly as follows:

The Governing Board is responsible for ensuring the impartiality of the assessment and certification process. It meets regularly to conduct any necessary business such as:

- to review policies; - to receive and consider the report of the General Manager; - to consider and rule on any appeals against the results of audits; - to appoint new Governors; - to decide on and follow up any actions which arise; - to review any certificates which have been approved.

The General Manager runs the Certification Body. More particularly:

- he/she implements the policies of the Governing Board; - he/she reports annually to the Governing Board via its chairman; - he/she assigns auditors to carry out assessments and to provide audit reports; - he/she administers the Scheme and issues certificates based on the reports and recommendations of auditors and Certification Officers.

The structure of the Certification Body is shown below.

Governing Board

General Manager

Certification

Secretary

Business

Developments

Operations

Manager

Assessment

Assistant

UK Auditors

USA Manager

USA Auditors

HK Manager

HK Auditors

Administration

Certification

Officers

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The General Manager has operations staff, auditors, certification officers, and a systems manager reporting to him/her. In summary, their roles are as follows.

- The operations staff carry out the instructions of the General Manager, and follow the procedures of the Certification Body.

- Internal auditors plan, carry out and follow up internal audits. - Auditors plan and carryout the audits of auditees prior to certification.

- Certification Officers review the recommendations of auditors and decide whether a certificate may be awarded.

A full list of all the Governors is available upon request.

2.2 The Company and the Certification Body

The Company, the Certification Body and their parts are shown in the following figure.

Members of the Company

Board of Directors

Governing Board

Certification Body

General Manager and his Staff, sub-contractors, auditors and other staff

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3.0 The Assessment and Certification Process The process of assessment (or auditing) and certification comprises a series of steps as follows. (Note: "assessment" is the process of examining a system to check that it complies with the appropriate standards; "certification" is the final step of issuing a certificate if the assessment is successful.)

3.1 Step 1 - Pre-Audit

The pre-audit is optional. It will be no longer than half the duration of the initial audit. It will be carried out in the same way as an initial audit, and provides practice for the auditee being audited. The objective is to find any major areas of weakness or aspects of the standards which are not addressed (either adequately or at all). The auditee can request what elements are audited.

3.2 Step 2 - Review of Documentation This is the first link in the assessment chain. First we check that your quality system documentation describes a system which complies with the relevant standards. Then (at the initial audit) we check that you are doing what your documentation says you should. The documentation review is usually carried out off site.

3.3 Step 3 - Audit Planning An audit plan is a programme which identifies which departments, functions or projects will be examined on which days and with respect to which aspects of the standard. If several auditors are to be involved, then the allocation of their time needs to be planned. The auditee needs to know when staff are likely to be required. If there are several locations to visit, the travel arrangements need to be optimised. The audit plan has to ensure that all relevant aspects of the organisation are adequately covered.

3.4 Step 4 - Initial Audit The initial certification audit of a management system shall be conducted in two stages: stage 1 and stage 2

Stage 1 audit

The stage 1 audit shall be performed

To audit the client’s management system documentation (this can be done off-site, Contract review will specify);

To evaluated the client’s location and site-specific conditions and to undertake discussions with the clients personnel to determine the preparedness for stage 2 audit;

To review the client’s status and understanding regarding requirements to the standard, in particular with respect to the identification of key performance or significant aspects, processes, objectives and operation of the management system;

To collect necessary information regarding the scope of the management systems, processes and location(s) of the client, and related statutory and regulatory aspects and compliance (e.g. quality, environmental, legal aspects of the client’s operation, associated risks, etc);

To review the allocation of resources for stage 2 and agree with the client on the details of the stage 2 audit;

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To provide a focus for planning the stage 2 audit by gaining a sufficient understanding of the client’s management system and site operations in the context of possible significant aspects;

To evaluate if the internal audits and management review are being planned and performance, and that the level of implementation of the management system substantiates that the client is ready for the stage 2 audit

Stage 2 audit

The purpose of the stage 2 audit is to evaluate the implementation, including effectiveness, of the client’s management system. The stage 2 audit shall take place the site(s) of the client. It shall include at least the following:

Information and evidence about conformity to all requirements of the applicable management system standard or normative document;

Performance monitoring, measuring, reporting and reviewing against key performance objectives and targets (consistent with the expectations in the applicable management system standard or other normative document);

The client’s management system and performance as regards legal compliance;

Operational control of the client’s processes;

Internal auditing and management review;

Management responsibility for the client’s policies

Links between the normative requirements, policy, performance objectives and targets (consistent with the expectations in the applicable management system standard or other normative document), any applicable legal requirements, responsibilities, competence of personnel, operations, procedures, performance data and internal audit findings and conclusions.

3.5 Step 5 - Clear Down Corrective Actions

For any nonconformity there will be a proposed corrective action to remedy any defects in either products or processes. All corrective actions must be cleared to the satisfaction of the Audit Team Leader or a nominated representative before certification is granted or continued.

The nonconformities will be numbered and listed in the audit report or Non-conformance Report depending on the scheme. The proposed action should state:

- The action completion date and responsibilities;

- Any rework of nonconforming product;

- Corrective action to contain the non-conformance

- Root Cause information to highlight how the non-conformance occurred

-Corrective action to prevent the non-conformance from re-occurring

NB: simply repairing or re-working nonconforming product is not corrective action; you must identify the root causes of nonconformities and take action to remove them and the correction and corrective actions.

We can provide soft-copy forms to assist in the preparation of the corrective action plan. You are encouraged to maintain the plan in machine readable form - desirably in a form readable on the auditor's PC and in word or excel.

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For Initial Assessments, all corrective actions must be cleared within 13 weeks of the end of the initial audit. If they are not, a further audit may be required prior to certification. The Audit Team Leader may reduce this timeframe. For surveillance visits, the audit team will make a recommendation as to whether objective evidence for the closure of non-compliances must be submitted to IMS within defined timescales, or whether they can be closed out at the next surveillance visit.

With the Aerospace Scheme organisations are required to issue a corrective action plan with detailed containment within 7 days. Failure to close non-conformances within 30 days will result in suspension.

3.6 Step 6 - Certification

On receipt of the Audit Report and, where applicable, corrective actions, the certification body will undertake a review to ensure that all the correct procedures have been followed, whether the recommendation of the Audit Team Leader is sound, and whether corrective actions have been appropriately addressed and evidenced.

This process can sometimes take several weeks - particularly if there are queries about the completeness of the assessment and corrective actions. The person undertaking the review may also require additional evidence to be provided to ensure that the system meets the requirements of the specified standards. In exceptional circumstances, this could include an additional visit.

On completion of a satisfactory review the recommendation to certificate will be confirmed by the certification body and the appropriate certificate will be issued.

3.7 Step 7 - Surveillance

The objective of a surveillance audit is for us to assure ourselves that you are continuing to work to a system which complies with the standards to which you are certificated, and that you take timely corrective action to correct nonconformities.

During surveillance, we may find nonconformities. As before, you need to propose corrective action. These will usually be cleared down at the following surveillance visit, but the Audit Team Leader may recommend more immediate clear-down.

After a number of visits, if it becomes apparent that compliance with the standard is good, then the time needed for surveillance may be reduced. An indication would be the number and nature of the nonconformities found during surveillance.

On the other hand, of course, if compliance were found to be poor or worrying, then the amount of surveillance might need to be increased. In a poor case, a further audit might be needed. Clearly, these costs are in the hands of the auditee.

Also, see Section 4.9 (Suspension and Cancellation of Certificates).

3.8 Step 8 - Further Audit

If there have been significant changes to your quality system or organisation, or if you wish to change your certificated scope, then a further audit may be required. What is to be done will depend on the recommendations of the Audit Team Leader.

A further audit is a partial or full audit similar to the initial audit. Its extent will depend on the change which caused it. The most common cause is a change in scope, but it may be required because of a change in organisation or the quality system, or if the Audit Team Leader is concerned about the compliance of your system with the standard.

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3.9 Step 9 - Reassessment After three years from the initial audit, we re-audit your system. This follows a similar path as in the beginning: a document review followed by an audit and a clear-down of the corrective actions. Surveillance then continues with a further re-audit three years later.

3.10 Determining period between stages and Back to Back Audits The contract review will determine the approximate interval between stage 1 and stage 2 taking into consideration the risk, number of employees, commonality of operations, applicable legislation and regulations, and key processes. During the scheduling process for the stage 1 assessment the client and auditor may tentatively arrange a date for the stage 2 assessment in line with the contract review guidance. This date will be confirmed during the stage 1 assessment taking into consideration any findings and the client’s resource availability to meet the deadline. During the contract review it may be determined that a back to back audit is possible for stage 1 and stage 2 assessments. The client and auditor will be made aware of the risk of carrying out back to back audits and if the client fails stage 1 assessment then the stage 2 assessment will not go ahead and will need to be rescheduled. The quotation will reflect this requirement and informed of the risk. Clients and Auditors are made aware that findings will not be downgraded to allow for the stage 2 audit to be carried out back to back with stage 1. Formal opening and closing meetings must be held for both stages and a report written and presented for both.

Another visit may need to be scheduled for the stage 2 assessment to take place and the appropriate fee applied.

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4. Certification Guidelines

4.1 Scope

At the opening meeting (during the initial audit), we will seek to agree the "scope" for which you wish to be certificated. Scope is a concise (usually a one or two sentence) description of your business. It is your responsibility to propose the scope, although our Audit Team Leader will help if necessary.

Your scope should be sufficiently and precisely drawn as to give a clear understanding of the types of products or services which you supply. You should not be certificated for the supply of products you do not make or for services you do not provide. We need to satisfy ourselves that you are competent to supply across all the items normally understood to come within your certificated scope.

If there are regulatory requirements, standards or other normative documents against which you supply products or services, these should be included in your scope.

4.2 Definition of Organisation

At the opening meeting we will also seek to agree the definition of the organisation which you wish to have certificated. This need not have the same boundaries as organisations recognised by company law. The important thing is that the organisation be a sensible operating unit. You cannot exclude parts of the organisation simply because "they are not ready" or because you don't want to include them. By contrast, the organisation could include parts of several different companies (e.g.: one of your sub-contractors). But whatever the definition, it must be clear before the audit starts.

If you are operating through a number of remote branches, all of which:

- are part of the same organisation,

- are under the same control,

- are doing substantially the same job

- are under common management, and

- use the same management system and procedures

The assessment can be by sampling. However, all the branches have to be assessed at least once over the three years before re-audit. In this case the certificate relates to the organisation as a whole. IMS reserves the right not to accept a certification project for organisations structure in a way that conflicts company law.

4.3 Supplies outside the Certificated System

It is your responsibility to ensure that you make no false claims as to the extent of your certification. Further, you must ensure that, when you supply products or services which were not designed or produced under your quality system, you do not make any implicit nor explicit claim to certification for those goods or services supplied. Moreover, you must ensure that certification is only used to indicate that products or services meet the requirements of the specified standard(s), and not use your certification to imply or claim that the products or services conform to any requirements outside the specified standard(s).

4.4 UKAS (and ISO/IEC Guide 25) Accreditation

If you carry out tests or calibration work which is appropriate to UKAS accreditation, then you must obtain such accreditation and not simply obtain 9001 certification. Your UKAS (or ISO/IEC Guide 25) accreditation will be accepted by IMS as evidence of compliance with the related requirements of ISO 9001 (this is for the UK only).

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4.5 Effects on the Environment

ISO 9001 does not require that processes have no adverse effects on the environment except insofar as this is a customer requirement. ISO 14001 is available as a standard against which firms may be certificated to demonstrate that their processes take the environment into account more generally. (IMS can provide this certification).

4.6 Meeting Legal Requirements

If your quality system conforms to ISO 9001, then you aim to meet all "agreed requirements" of the purchaser, including any legal requirements which are implied by your contract with them. During the audit, you will need to show that you actively seek to meet all known legal statutory and regulatory requirements.

We shall check that you have arrangements in place for ensuring that you have identified and are able to meet all relevant requirements. However, we shall not check that you do meet them; that remains your responsibility.

4.7 Policy as to when Certification Services shall be available

The services of the Certification Body shall be available to all organisations equally, subject to acceptable commercial terms, except that no organisation shall be certified if it has employed any employee or shareholder of the Company as a consultant or adviser within the preceding two years.

4.8 Complaints and Complaint Records

As part of his/her documented management system, the auditee shall keep a record of all complaints received and records of the remedial and preventive actions taken, and any predisposing factors within the quality system. These records shall be made available to the auditor at each audit and surveillance visit.

4.9 Suspension, withdrawal and Cancellation of Certificates

The circumstances under which a customer’s certificate may be suspended, withdrawn and/or cancelled include:

The client’s certified management system has persistently or seriously failed to meet certification requirements, including requirements for the effectiveness of the management system;

The certified client does not allow surveillance or recertification audits to be conducted at the required frequencies;

The certified client has voluntarily requested a suspension;

Misuse of certification marks/logos etc;

The customer’s circumstances change in such a way as to invalidate the scope of certification;

The customer otherwise contravenes the terms and conditions of the certificate.

During surveillance, it may become apparent that the auditee is not working to a compliant, documented, management system, or he/she may be misusing the marks, or otherwise contravening the terms of their certificate. In this case, the auditee may be advised that their certificate is suspended pending meeting the terms of their certificate. This will usually involve the auditee's submitting a corrective action plan within 28 days setting out the corrective actions, including responsibilities and timescales that the customer intends to take to address the non-compliances/contraventions.

During suspension, the customer will not make any claims that the product/system is certified. The IMS logo / certification mark will not be used on any products during the period of suspension. The suspended status of the certification shall be made publically accessible via the website and IMS shall take any further measures deemed appropriate. Any verification actions shall be carried out within six months of the suspension decision.

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In the event that the customer does not complete the activities set out in the Corrective Action Plan, the Certificate will be withdrawn. With immediate effect, the customer will be required to return the certificate to IMS International, cease all further use of the IMS logo and certification marks, and will not make any claim to certification of systems, services or products. The withdrawal status of the certification shall be made publically accessible via the website and IMS shall take any further measures deemed appropriate.

4.10 Statement of Impartiality

IMS International provides its services in an open, independent and impartial manner to all clients and potential clients. All clients are treated in the same manner and are expected to achieve the same level of performance, both for their organisation and their services in order to obtain and maintain certification. IMS takes its certification decisions solely on the basis of objective evidence and in an objective manner, and any potential or actual conflicts of interest are assessed and managed.

Anyone who uses a certified client of IMS may rely on this impartiality and objectivity in their own procurement decisions.

IMS provides and independent oversight of its certification activities through IMS’s Governing Board, which consists of representatives from a number of organisations with an interest in IMS’s activities. It approves certification schemes, reviews certification operations (including complaints) and deals with other related matters.

4.11 Audit Guides

The Client shall provide suitable guides to accompany the auditors during any auditing activities unless otherwise agreed to by the audit team leader and the organisation. Guide(s) as assigned to the audit team to facilitate the audit. The audit team will ensure that the guides do not influence or interfere in the audit process or the outcome of the audit. The responsibilities of a guide can include:

Establishing contacts and timing for interviews;

Arranging visits to specific parts of the site or organisation;

Ensuring that the rules concerning site safety and security procedures are known and respected by the audit team members;

Witnessing the audit on behalf of the client;

Providing clarification or information as requested by an auditor.

A guide should not be answering questions except when specifically asked by an auditor.

4.12 Observers

The presence and justification of observers during an audit activity shall be agreed to by IMS International and the client prior to the conduct of the audit. The audit team shall ensure that observers do not influence or interfere in the audit process or the outcome of the audit. Observers can be members of the client’s organisation, consultants, witnessing Accreditation Body Personnel, Regulators or other justified persons.

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5.0 Complaints and Appeals

At any time, a client or auditee may make a complaint about the service provided by IMS. Complaints should be addressed to the General Manager. If you are not satisfied with the response to a complaint, you may further complain to the chairman of the Governing Board.

At any time, any interested party may appeal to the Governing Board if:

- An application is rejected; - a certificate is suspended or terminate; - an audit result is not satisfactory

Appeals should be made via the General Manager. The appellant will have the opportunity to present his/her case to the Governing Board. The Certification Body's costs arising from the appeal shall be to the account of: the appellant if the appeal fails; and to IMS if the appeal succeeds.

Complaints will be acknowledged with an initial response in writing within 10 days, and a full written response will be provided upon completion of a full investigation.

If a dispute arises during an audit, the auditor will aim to reach an agreement with the auditee. Where this is not possible, the auditee should contact the General Manager who will undertake an investigation into the nature of the dispute, and inform the auditee in writing as to the decision. The General Manager will also inform the auditee of the appeals procedure and further rights to take the matter to the IMS Reliance Governing Board.

At any time, any interested party may make a complaint to IMS about you as a certificated supplier. In this event, we shall send you details of the complaint (excluding the identity of the complainant), and ask you to provide timely comment on the complaint. We would expect that you would propose appropriate corrective action. Depending on your response, we would take note for subsequent surveillance visits, and might require a further audit (see Step 8).

6.0 Accredited Scope

Currently, IMS offers certification to organisations for a number of sectors, if you would like to check to see if IMS is accredited for your organisations activities please contact our offices.

7.0 Rules governing the use of the Certification Mark etc.

When successfully certified by IMS, organisations shall be permitted to use logos issued by IMS for use on their stationary and associated literature. The following rules shall be applied; failure to comply with the requirements will result in non-conformances being raised against the organisation and can lead to suspension and even legal action.

The certification mark is used as part of a set.

a. The certification mark shows that the firm has been certificated by IMS to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, AS/EN9100, AS/EN9120

b. The accreditation mark shows that the certification was accredited by UKAS;

c. The TickIT mark shows that the certification was accredited as meeting the requirements of the TickIT scheme.

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The range of logos that may be used, as appropriate, are as follows:

The certification marks may be used on stationery including sales brochures; they may not be used on products, product packaging, associated documentation, or certificates or in any other way that may be interpreted as denoting product conformity. They may be used in electronic form where the use is akin to that of stationery, but not where they may seem to be associated with a product.

The UKAS and TickIT marks may not be used on vehicles. The marks may not be used on laboratory test and calibration reports.

The marks shall be not less than 20mm in height, and shall (apart from the TickIT mark) be a single colour only, which may be red, brown, black, dark blue, gold or the predominant colour of the letterhead in the case of pre-printed letterhead paper.

The TickIT mark may be in colour. In this case, the monochrome part shall be the same colour as the other marks with which it is used. The main part of the arrow shall be pantone red 032 (solid magenta and solid yellow); the shadow part of the arrow and the "IT" shall be pantone warm grey 8 (30% black).

The marks shall comprise the marks appropriate to the issued certificate, as follows.

- The TickIT mark shall be used only if the certification is to TickIT.

- The UKAS accreditation mark shall be used only if the certification is to an accredited scope.

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The marks available in soft-copy form, available on request.

When using the issued logos, organisations shall:

Conform to the requirements of IMS International when making reference to its certification status in communication media such as the internet, brochures or advertising or other documents

Do not make or permit any misleading statement regarding its certification,

Do not make or permit the use of a certification document or any part thereof in a misleading manner,

Upon suspension or withdrawal of its certification, discontinue the use of all advertising matter that contains reference to certification, as directed by IMS International,

Amend all advertising matter when the scope of certification has been reduced,

Do not allow reference to its management system certification to be used in such a way as to imply that the certification body certifies a product (including service) or process,

Do not imply that the certification applies to activities that are outside the scope of certification,

Do not use its certification in such a manner that would bring IMS or the certification system into disrepute and lose public trust,

Do not use the marks on laboratory tests, calibration or inspection reports, as such reports are deemed to be products in this context

IMS shall take any action necessary to deal with incorrect references to certification status or misleading use of certification documents, marks or audit reports. Such action may include publication of the transgression and, if necessary, legal action.

After suspension, withdrawal or cancellation of certification, any organisation found to be using the certification marks without authority shall be charged the equivalent to the fees that would have been paid to IMS International from the period of suspension, withdrawal or cancellation to discovery. This money may be used to publicise the transgression and, if necessary, legal action.

See Section 9.0 of this document for further requirements.

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8.0 Pricing Guide

The following tables provide guidance on the number of man-days that will be needed for various steps in the audit process. These are indicative figures (not firm quotations); variations from the norm will vary the estimates. The effective number of employees consists of all full time personnel involved in the scope of certification including those working on each shift. Non-permanent and part time personnel who will be present at he time of the audit shall be included in this number.

The number of auditors employed will depend on the man-days required. As a rule of thumb, the number of auditors will not usually exceed half the duration of the audit in days. It is not usually beneficial to employ more auditors than this.

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8.1 ISO 9001

Effective Number of Employees

Stage 1 & Stage 2*

Annual Surveillance*

Re-Assessment*

1-5 1.5 ½ 1

6-10 2 1 1.5

11-15 2.5 1 2

16-25 3 1 2

26-45 4 1.5 3

46-65 5 1.5 - 2 3.5

66-85 6 2 4

86-125 7 2.5 4.5

126-175 8 2.5 -3 5.5

176-275 9 3 6

276-425 10 3.5 6.5

426-625 11 3.5 -4 7.5

626-875 12 4 8

876-1175 13 4.5 8.5

1176-1550 14 4.5 9.5

1551-2025 15 5 10

2026-2675 16 5.5 10.5

2676-3450 17 5.5 11.5

3451-4350 18 6 12

4351-5450 19 6.5 12.5

5451-6800 20 6.5 13.5

6801-8500 21 7 14

8501-10700 22 7.5 14.5

>10700 Follow progression above

Follow progression above

Follow progression above

*Number of days includes planning, document review, interacting with client personnel and report writing as appropriate.

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8.2 ISO 14001

To determine the amount of man-days required for an ISO 14001 audit it is necessary to assess the environmental complexity associated with your activities, these will be classified according to the following categories:

High Environmental aspects with significant nature and gravity (Typically organisations with significant impacts in several of the environmental aspects)

Medium Environmental aspects with medium nature and gravity (typically organisations with significant impacts in some of the environmental aspects

Low Environmental aspects with low nature and gravity (typically organisations with few significant aspects)

Limited Environmental aspects with limited nature and gravity (typically organisations of an office type environment)

Special These require additional and unique consideration at the audit planning stage

Based on the classification, we will be able to determine the number of auditor days required by using the guidance given in the table 2 below, taking into account additive and subtractive factors e.g. size of the organisation, shift working, number of sites.

Table 2.- Guide for Auditor Time for Initial Assessment (Audit Stage 1 and Audit Stage 2 together)

No of Effective Employees

High Medium Low Limited

1-5 3 2.5 2.5 2.5

6-10 3.5 3 3 3

11-15 4.5 3.5 3 3

16-25 5.5 4.5 3.5 3

26-45 7 5.5 4 3

16-65 8 6 4.5 3.5

66-85 9 7 5 3.5

86-125 11 8 5.5 4

126-175 12 9 6 4.5

176-275 13 10 7 5

276-425 15 11 8 5.5

426-625 16 12 9 6

626-875 17 13 10 6.5

876-1175 19 15 11 7

1176-1550 20 16 12 7.5

1551-2025 21 17 12 8

2026-2675 23 18 13 8.5

2676-3450 25 19 14 9

3451-4350 27 20 15 10

4351-5450 28 21 16 11

5451-6800 30 23 17 12

6801-8500 32 25 19 13

8501-10700 34 27 20 14

>10700 Follow Progression Above

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8.3 Combined Audits:

If you are applying for an integrated assessment, for example; ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, the number of audit days will be calculated by adding together the guidance numbers for ISO 9001 assessments and ISO 14001 assessments.

It is more difficult to express estimating rules to take account of the range of activities. At the lower end, the above figures rather assume that the organisation being audited is fairly homogeneous. So, for example, if the organisation carried out both product development (with 40 staff) and general consultancy (with 40 staff), it would be more accurate to estimate it as two organisations of 40 each (i.e. 2 x 4 = 8 man-days) rather than as one of 80 (i.e.: 5 man-days).

In all respects, the assumption is that the same quality/environmental management system is in use at all locations and for all work. If not, separate certification is required.

When a certification is being taken over from another accredited certification body, the time for "initial audit" will be clear from information obtained at the document review and quotation.

8.4 AS 9100, AS 9120 & AS 9110

The guidance number of days for an AS 9100, AS 9120 or AS 9110 audit is shown below (Table 1):

Number of

Employees AS9100/AS9110

AS9100/AS9110

(Exc Design) AS9120

IN SV RE IN SV RE IN SV RE

1-5 2.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 1.0 1.5

6-10 2.5 1.0 2.0 2.5 1.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.5

11-15 3.0 1.5 2.5 2.5 1.0 2.0 2.5 1.0 2.0

16-25 3.5 1.5 3.0 3.0 1.5 2.5 3.0 1.5 2.0

26-45 5.0 2.0 4.0 4.5 2.0 3.5 4.0 2.0 3.0

46-65 6.0 2.5 4.5 5.0 2.0 4.0 4.5 2.0 3.5

66-85 7.0 3.0 5.5 6.0 2.5 4.5 5.5 2.5 4.0

86-100 8.0 3.0 6.0 7.0 3.0 5.0 6.0 2.5 4.5

101-125 8.5 3.5 6.5 7.5 3.0 5.5 6.5 3.0 5.0

126-175 9.5 4.0 7.0 8.0 3.5 6.0 7.5 3.0 5.5

176-275 10.5 4.0 8.0 9.0 3.5 6.5 8.0 3.5 6.0

276-425 12.0 5.0 9.0 10.0 4.5 7.5 9.0 4.0 7.0

426-625 13.0 5.5 9.5 11.0 4.5 8.0 10.0 4.5 7.5

626-875 14.0 5.5 10.5 12.0 5.0 8.5 10.5 4.5 8.0

876-1000 15.0 6.0 11.0 12.5 5.0 9.0 11.5 5.0 8.5

1001-1175 16.0 6.5 12.0 13.5 5.5 10.0 12.5 5.5 9.5

1176-1550 17.0 7.0 12.5 14.5 6.0 11.0 13.0 5.5 10.0

1551-2025 18.0 7.0 13.5 15.0 6.0 11.5 13.5 5.5 10.5

2026-2675 19.0 7.5 14.0 16.0 6.5 12.0 14.5 6.0 11.0

2676-3450 20.0 8.0 14.5 17.0 7.0 12.5 15.0 6.0 11.0

3451-4350 21.0 8.0 15.5 17.5 7.0 13.0 16.0 6.5 11.5

4351-5450 22.0 8.5 16.0 18.5 7.5 13.5 16.5 6.5 12.0

5451-6800 23.0 9.0 16.5 19.0 7.5 14.0 17.0 7.0 12.5

6801-8500 24.0 9.0 17.5 20.0 8.0 14.5 18.0 7.0 13.0

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8501-10700 25.0 9.5 18.0 21.0 8.0 15.0 18.5 7.5 13.5

10701-14564 26.0 10.0 18.5 21.5 8.5 15.5 19.5 7.5 14.0

14565-19630 27.0 10.0 19.5 22.5 8.5 16.0 20.0 8.0 14.5

19631-24695 28.0 10.5 20.0 23.0 9.0 16.5 20.5 8.0 15.0

24696-33571 29.0 11.0 20.5 24.0 9.0 17.0 21.5 8.5 15.5

33572-45031 30.0 11.0 21.5 25.0 9.5 17.5 22.0 8.5 16.0

45032-59258 31.0 11.5 22.0 25.5 9.5 18.5 23.0 9.0 16.5

59259-79784 32.0 12.0 22.5 26.5 10.0 19.0 23.5 9.0 17.0

79785-101635 33.0 12.0 23.5 27.0 10.0 19.5 24.0 9.0 17.5

*The above table includes both AQMS standard and ISO 9001 audit day requirements; these requirements are consistent with IAF MD5. *For organisations with employees greater than 101635, follow the defined progression The initial audit shall be conducted by auditing each site to the complete and applicable AQMS standard requirements, prior to certificate issuance Audit time in the above table includes Stage 1 (initial audit only) and Stage 2 activities. Auditor day requirements represent minimum on-site audit time from the opening meeting to the closing meeting. Audit time does not include non-audit time (e.g., travel, meals, and extended break times). Table 1 is for on-site audit time only. The table does not include auditor time used for planning, report writing, and/or completion of the associated 9101 standard forms (appendices). IMS will provide for additional auditor time needed to complete the 9101 forms either for completion on-site or off-site as per the Contract Review Form. The entry of data on the AS/EN9101 Objective Evidence Record (OER) during on-site audit time is acceptable. Audit durations shall be calculated in audit days on the basis of eight hours per day. The number of audit days cannot be reduced by programming longer hours per workday (e.g., five audit days of eight hours cannot be executed as four audit days of ten hours). Reductions that may be required to comply with local legislation will be satisfied by adding days to ensure that the audit day requirements are met. Shift auditing whereby a longer day is planned; cannot reduce required auditor days. If a Stage 1 audit is determined to be necessary during recertification, additional auditor days shall be added to the required audit days defined in the above table.

8.5 Clear-down of Corrective Actions

The audit team shall record all non-conformances identified during an audit using Form 42- Non-conformity Report (extracted from AS/EN 9101). All nonconformities identified during an assessment will be identified as either “Major” or “Minor” as defined below: A non-fulfilment of a requirement which is likely to result in the failure of the quality management system or reduce its ability to assure controlled processes or compliant products/services

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Major:

a nonconformity where the effect is judged to be detrimental to the integrity of the product or service;

the absence of or total breakdown of a system to meet a 9100-series standard requirement, an organization procedure, or customer quality management system requirement;

any nonconformity that would result in the probable shipment of nonconforming product; and/or

a condition that could result in the failure or reduce the usability of the product or service and its intended purpose.

A level 1 score on a PEAR

A level 2 score on a PEAR if the auditor feels necessary

Minor:

a single system failure or lapse in conformance with a 9100-series standard or customer quality management system requirement; or

a single system failure or lapse in conformance with a procedure associated to the organization's quality management system.

A level 2 score on a PEAR A number of minor nonconformities against one requirement (e.g., similar nonconformities associated to different sites or different departments/functions/processes within a single site) can represent a total breakdown of the system and thus be considered a major nonconformity. After issuance of a nonconformity the auditor shall:

when the nature of the nonconformity needs immediate containment action, require the organization to determine and report the specific containment actions, including correction within 7 calendar days after the audit and reach agreement with the audit team leader within the next 14 calendar days;

require the organization to analyze and report on the NCR: the root cause and specific correction and corrective actions taken, or planned to be taken, to eliminate the detected nonconformities within a defined time;

agree with the organization on corrective action(s) and corrective action plans within a maximum of 30 days from the end of the on-site audit.

document details of evidence supporting the closure of nonconformities on the individual NC Record within the Verification Section; and

report to the organization after verification of corrective actions is complete by signing the lower sections of the NCR and returning them. In order for IMS to maintain the system and ensure that clients submit their corrective actions within the required time, the auditor shall submit all NCRs to the IMS admin team who can raise a brought forward for the time stated within the NCRs. The auditor shall use the verification section to communicate any additional information or actions required by the organisation and shall identify the date of this communication. The NCR shall be used to record nonconformities; each NCR shall contain only one nonconformity. When nonconformities are identified, the audit team shall categorize the nonconformity as ‘major’ or ’minor’, according to the definitions provided above in the non-conformity section. The need for containment in accordance with the organization’s corrective action process shall be reviewed by the audit team. If a client fails to submit their corrective actions and demonstrate that conformance has been re-established within 60 days from the issuance of the NCR form, suspension shall be preceded. If the NCR affects customer products, the Auditor shall ensure that the Corrective Actions take into consider any customer actions that may be necessary, this may include a notification or recall process.

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Recurrence of the same or similar nonconformity found during consecutive audits at a particular site/location shall be considered as a failure of the corrective action process (see 9100-series standards clause 8.5.2) and shall result in a major nonconformity being issued. If there is no evidence of non-fulfillment of a requirement, the auditor cannot issue a nonconformity. If the auditor found evidence of non-fulfillment of a requirement, the auditor determines the nonconformity classification (major/minor).

8.6 Certification Fee

A certification fee is payable: for each new certification; on revision of the certificate because of a change of scope or organisation definition; and after re-issue of a certificate after its withdrawal.

a. certification fee £100 (includes one copy of the certificate)

b. later issue of a further copy of the certificate £ 50

c. extra copies of the certificate (when issued with (a) or (b) £10

The certification fee is payable on acceptance of the quotation and is non-refundable, in most cases these fees are built into our quotations.

8.7 Surveillance

The time spent each year for surveillance will be about one third of that needed for the document review, planning, and the initial audit, but this might be varied (up or down) depending on how all the auditee's system complies with the standard. Note that in most years there will be one or two surveillance visits.

There will always be a surveillance visit approximately six months after the initial audit. If your management system can be seen to be well managed and in good order, you may request that the audit frequency be reduced. This request should be made to the Audit Team Leader during a surveillance audit. He will make a recommendation to IMS, which will review the request and advise you accordingly. For TickIT assessments, this reduction is possible only for firms with fewer than 10 staff.

Organisations within the Aerospace Scheme shall have their purchasing department audited at least once per year.

8.8 Further Audits

Where the number or severity of non-compliances identified during an audit is excessive, further audits may be required to ensure compliance to the relevant standard. The number of days required will depend on the nature of the non-compliances raised.

8.9 Re-Assessment

A re-assessment of the entire management system is generally required every three years. The time needed for re-assessment will depend on how many assessment days have been carried out during the assessment cycle, the level of control over the system demonstrated throughout the cycle, the number of sites visited etc. Generally, a re-assessment will require approximately two-thirds of the audit days undertaken for the initial assessment. However, if the surveillance audits have been carried out in excess of the guidance number of days, and if compliance with the standard has been good, a shorter review will be carried out. In other cases, the number of days could be equal to the initial assessment. Depending on past performance over the audit cycle it may be necessary to apply a stage 1 and stage 2 assessment approach (See 3.4).

8.10 Types of Organisation Structures

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Single Site Organisations

An organisation that operates at one site.

Multisite Organisations

The provision for multi-site sampling will not be applicable for AS/EN 9100 or AS/EN 9120, as all sites of a multi-site organisation will be required to be audited during the initial assessment and during the period of validity of registration. During surveillance visits the head office shall be audited every year plus half of the additional sites. The other half of the sites shall be audited during the following surveillance visit. All sites shall be re-audited during the reassessment. Where a multi-site organisation has individual sites engaging in only a subset of the overall processes of the organisation, then the assessment of a site will be limited to the activities undertaken there, and the guidance number of day’s table 1 shall be reviewed accordingly. For AS/EN 9120, IAF MD1 is permitted for sampling providing the sites are located in the same country.

Campus Certification Structure

The total number of employees in the campus shall be calculated by adding together the employees from each site related to the campus. The day allocation table (table 1) shall be used to establish the basis for audit duration. No further reductions from the defined auditors days are allowed, with the exception of the use/application of ASRP and/or CAAT. ASRP and/or CAAT shall not reduce the audit day requirements by more than 30%. In order to support the audit of different aspects of a campus, including communication, a minimum of 10% shall be added to the total duration defined in the audit day allocation table (table 1). On-site audit duration shall be divided between the sites within the campus to ensure that all sites are audited each year and all processes are audited at initial assessment and recertification audits and all processes are audited over the two year surveillance years.

Several Site Certification Structure

The basic audit duration shall be established by using the number of employees on each site and using Table 1 to calculate the duration for each site. Reductions may be applied for each site in accordance with Table 2. Reductions shall be subject to a maximum total of 30% per site from the values stated in Table 1. The application of ASRP and/or CAAT shall not reduce the total audit day requirements across the entire organization by more than 30%. The combination of audit day reductions from Table 2 and ASRP/CAAT shall not reduce the total audit days by more than a total of 40% at an individual site. All sites are to be audited during initial certification audits, surveillance audits, and recertification audits.

Table 2-Permissible Reductions for Reduced Scope/Complexity for Several Site Organisations

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Complex Certification Structure

The audit duration for each organizational type subset shall be calculated using the applicable methodology for the certification structure (i.e., multiple site, campus, several sites). Complex organisations may also include organizations that contain more than one campus. The rational for the subset organizational types shall be documented by the client and IMS and in all cases the applied methodology, audit day calculation, planned audit program, sampling plan (for sites for AS/EN 9120 and multiple site organisations and processes for campus organizations) and associated justifications shall be submitted for review to the IAQG OPMT Certification Structure.

8.11 Aerospace Scheme Feedback Loop

Certified Organisations can give electronic access to detailed certification and assessment results that are uploaded onto the OASIS Database. These access rights are determined by the client and can be given to selected users, upon request, to customers, as required by contract, or to all registered database users. This shall be managed as part of the Duties of the Client.

Category % Decrease *

No Human Resources Processes 10%

No Production or Service Realisation 20%

No Purchasing 10%

No Customer Related Processes 10%

No QMS Documentation Control (not applicable for the central function)

10%

* Up to a maximum 30% reduction per site from values from table 1, with justification.

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9.0 Terms and Conditions

The following terms and conditions apply to all agreements for the services and licences provided by IMS in connection with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS9100, AS9120, ISO 9001 TickIT and Product Certification. They apply to all such agreements.

9.1 Definitions

Auditee means the organisation, which is intended to be, or is certificated.

Certificate means a certificate issued by IMS which states that the quality, environmental system operated by the Auditee complies with specified standards, and any copies issued by IMS.

Client means the person with whom the contract is made with IMS for the supply of certification services and to whom a licence is granted for the use of the Marks.

Governing Board means the Governing Board of IMS

A Mark means the IMS certification mark and the other marks which indicate that the auditee is certificated (including that of the UKAS and TickIT).

IMS means IMS Reliance Ltd acting through its General Manager.

Quality or Environmental System is that part of the Auditee's management system which meets the requirements of the Standard.

Standard means the quality or environmental management system standard to which the Auditee is assessed and any supporting guidelines or supplements.

UKAS means the United Kingdom Accreditation Service.

9.2 License to use the Certification Mark and Certificate

Subject to the Auditee and the Client fulfilling their responsibilities hereunder, and during the currency of this agreement, IMS grants a licence for the Auditee to use the Marks and the Certificate.

Copyright in the Marks and the Certificate remains vested in IMS and the copyright owners of the marks not owned by IMS.

The use of the Marks is ruled by Section 7 of Doc007 (Auditee Guidelines and Obligations).

Incorrect references to the certification system or misleading use of Certificates in advertisements, sales brochures, etc. is not acceptable.

Neither the Marks nor the Certificate may be used in any way which is unacceptable to IMS and bring IMS or the certification system into disrepute.

IMS may revoke the Auditee's licence to use the Marks and terminate the Certificate if the Auditee or the Client fails to comply with any of these terms and conditions, or if the Client becomes bankrupt or makes an arrangement with its creditors or enters into liquidation (except for purposes of reconstruction) or has a receiver appointed, or if the Client fails to pay fees in due time, or if IMS loses its relevant accreditation.

Under suspension or after withdrawal or cancellation, the auditee shall refrain from further promotion of its certification.

Companies certified to AS 9100, AS 9120 and AS 9110 will be required to inform IAQG OEMs immediately if they should lose their certification.

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9.3 Services to be provided by IMS

IMS will provide the Client with copies of the Certificate when all due fees have been paid.

IMS will provide the services as described in Sections 3,4 and 8, and as further defined in any orders accepted by IMS.

IMS will notify the Auditee of any changes to the Standard, and will allow the Auditee a reasonable time (as IMS shall determine) for the Auditee to revise his system accordingly.

9.4 Confidentiality

IMS shall keep all information of the Auditee and the Client in confidence, except insofar as such information is in the public domain, unless the Auditee or Client gives his permission for its release, unless such information must be released by law or for the purpose of IMS's accreditation, or unless the information is part of IMS's register of assessed firms, or other public database specific to the certification scheme.

9.4.1 Openness

Any member of the public may request access or disclosure of any client’s certification status (i.e. the granting, extending, maintaining, renewing, suspending, reducing the scope of, or withdrawing of certification) in order to gain confidence in the integrity and credibility of certification. IMS shall provide this information in a timely manner. They may also request information about our audit process and certification process. IMS Shall provide access to specific interested parties that request information on conclusion of a specific audit will be provided relevant non-confidential information about the conclusion of an audit. The Auditee and the Client shall do likewise in respect of IMS's information.

9.5 Duties of the Auditee

The Auditee shall:

- maintain a documented Quality or Environmental System which conforms to the certificated standards;

- provide IMS with a copy of the documentation which describes its Quality or Environmental System as required by IMS (insofar as the documentation is held electronically the Auditee shall provide IMS with a copy of the information on paper or electronic media at IMS's choice);

- advise IMS promptly of any intention to change the Quality or Environmental System, or any other changes to the organisation which could effect the conformity or scope of the certified management system;

- not change the Quality or Environmental System without IMS's confirmation that such a change would not invalidate the Certificate.

- give access, accommodation, and reasonable office facilities to IMS's and UKAS's staff at all reasonable and necessary times to enable them to assess the compliance of the Quality or Environmental System with the Standard by examination of information however held, by interviewing the Auditee's staff, and by examining processes and products;

-ensure that appropriate documentation, records and staff are available to ensure that IMS Reliance can effectively assess all relevant aspects of the system;

- only claim that it is certified with respect to those activities for which it has been granted certification;

- cease to use the certified logos in cases of suspension or withdrawal of the certification;

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- not bring IMS into disrepute by inappropriate claims of certification;

- make its complaints file available to IMS and UKAS on request.

- comply with the requirements for certification, and supply any information needed for assessment;

- nominate for IMS approval a management representative and deputies as necessary to be responsible for all matters relating to the Certificate;

- keep copies of audit reports and other associated documentation for a minimum of 5 years;

- inform IMS immediately if it becomes aware of any legal challenge regarding the safety or legality of any products or services that it provides that are covered by the scope of its IMS certification.

9.6 Duties of the Client

The Client shall:

- Pay IMS's fees as agreed;

- Ensure that the Auditee fulfils his obligations hereunder.

- Permit IAQG members, AB’s, and regulatory agencies access to its facilities and records, as required, to ensure conformity to AS/EN 9104 and to perform oversight assessments of IMS Processes and activities associated with AS/EN9104, and our accreditation and recognition as a Certification Body under ICOP Scheme. The right of access shall include the witnessing of IMS audits or organisations.

- For the Aerospace Scheme Standards, have in place and OASIS Administrator who is responsible for ensuring the contact information is kept up to date and users associated are current and valid. They shall also notify IMS of any significant changes within the organisation (e.g. changes related to address, ownership, key management, number of employees, scope of operations, customer contract requirements). A client shall be suspended should they not maintain the OASIS Administrator information

- Inform IMS of any classified material or export control requirements prior to any auditing activities taking place. If any of these areas are not permitted to be audited, they shall be excluded from the scope of certification.

-Aerospace Scheme certified organisations shall allow IMS to provide Tier 1 data (i.e information on the issued AQMS standard certificate – public domain) and tier 2 data (e.g. information and results of audits, assessments, non-conformances, corrective action, scoring, and suspensions – private domain) to the OASIS Database.

-Aerospace Scheme certified organisations shall provide access to the Tier 2 data in the OASIS Database to their aviation, space, and defence customers and authorities, upon request, unless justification can be provided (e.g. competition, confidentiality, and conflict of interest).

-If Aerospace Scheme certified organisations lose their AQMS standard certification, they shall provide immediate notification to their aviation, space, and defence customers.

9.7 Fees

IMS shall charge the Client fees for the services and licences provided. The fee rates shall be according to IMS's quoted prices for the service or licence concerned.

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Fees may be quoted as a firm price explicitly or as an estimate.

Fees are due fourteen days in advance of the activity to which they relate, except for fees which are ascertained only after the activity is complete which are due thirty days after their invoice date. Fees shall be paid by the due date.

Where fees are quoted as a daily rate, the nominal day is eight hours, however a day's fee may be charged for five or more hours. Activities which are of only a few hours duration and at the auditor's office may be charged at an hourly rate prorated from the daily fee rate.

The fees for travel, hotel and subsistence expenses will be charged at cost, unless quoted otherwise.

Value added tax will be charged as necessary.

Twenty one days after payment is due, interest is payable on overdue charges at The Royal Bank of Scotland base rate plus 5% per month.

9.8 Postponement and Cancellation

If the Client or Auditee postpones or cancels a planned activity with less than 21 days notice before the start of the activity, IMS will charge the Client an additional fee for postponement or cancellation. This fee will be the greater of half the quoted charges for the activity or one man-day's fee rate.

If cancellation is less than 7 days notice prior to the start of the audit then the full audit fees will be payable by the Auditee.

Cancellations must be received in writing acknowledging the cancellation fee will be applied.

In the case of cancellation by the Client or Auditee during an activity, the whole quoted, estimated or actual fee for the activity will be charged.

IMS shall not be entitled to a cancellation fee where cancellation is due to IMS's act or omission.

IMS may cancel an activity if the fees for it are unpaid by the due date; in this case a cancellation fee shall be due to IMS.

9.9 Termination of the Agreement

Either party may cancel this agreement by giving three months' notice. Termination of the agreement shall lead automatically to termination of the Certificate.

On termination of the Certificate (however determined), the Auditee shall:

- immediately discontinue use of the Marks and the Certificate

- remove all references to such from all material and electronic media,

- return the Certificate (and all copies) to IMS.

9.10 Related Documents

The information in this document Doc007 (Auditee Guidelines and Obligations) is a part of the agreement between the Client and IMS. The information in Doc007 (except that in this Section 9.10) may be amended from time to time by IMS. IMS shall give notice of such change to the Client.

9.11 General Terms and Conditions

Copyright shall remain IMS's property, but the Client and the Auditee shall have a licence to copy only for internal use all copyright material produced by IMS in the course of the agreement conditional on all due fees having been paid.

The Client and the Client on behalf of the Auditee hereby consent to IMS's subcontracting its work as it sees fit.

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Under no circumstances whatsoever shall IMS be liable under the law of contract, tort, or otherwise for any loss of profits or contracts or any indirect or consequential loss or damage.

The Client shall indemnify IMS against all claims, costs, actions and demands arising from IMS's services hereunder (except due to IMS's negligence), the use or misuse of the Marks or the Certificate, and any breach of this agreement.

Notices will be deemed to have been served 48 hours after being posted recorded delivery to the addressee's last known address.

Both parties agree that this contract is the complete and exclusive agreement between them. The contract shall be governed by English Law and both parties shall submit to the jurisdiction of the English Courts.

10.0 Audit Questionnaire

If you would like IMS to provide you with a quotation for auditing services, please fill in our audit questionnaire (Form 01, 01B, 01C, 01D) (or a photocopy) and send it to:

IMS Reliance Ltd Little Braxted Hall

Little Braxted CM8 3EU

If there are points in the questionnaire which are unclear please call IMS on +44 (0) 1376 500068 or e-mail info@imsworld.org.

Also, would you kindly provide a brief description of your business? Copies of your product or service brochures would be an acceptable way to do this.

11 Document Revision History

Date Amendment Revision

22nd

January 2013 Typo’s and clarifications throughout document Updated day allocation for Aerospace Scheme and added types of structures Duties in line with AS9104-1 requirements

19

9th March 2013 Clarified the use of the Mark as a requirement of 17021, section 7

within this document. 20

1st July 2013 Changed legal name from ISO Management Services International

LLP to IMS Reliance Ltd 21