Governance
Impartiality and governance
Certification is only worth something if the body issuing it is independent of the organisation being certified. These are the rules we work to.
Impartiality
NQC is a third party certification body. We do not provide consultancy, internal auditing or management system implementation to the organisations we certify.
Certification decisions are taken by a reviewer who is independent of the audit team. The person who audits your system does not decide whether you are certified.
Confidentiality
Information obtained during an audit is treated as confidential. It is not released to a third party without your written consent, except where we are required to release it by law or by the accreditation body.
Complaints and appeals
You can appeal a certification decision, and you can complain about an audit, an auditor or about NQC. Both are handled by people who were not involved in the matter being raised. Use the complaint and appeal form in our documents, or write to us.
Our policies
- Quality policy
- Impartiality policy
- Confidentiality policy
- Conditions for use of certification marks
Certificate ownership
Certificates remain the property of NQC. Conditions for the use of our certification marks are set out in our documents.
Raise a complaint or an appeal
Both routes are documented, and both are handled independently of the people involved.