Appeal

This process 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 appeal against a decision of SISTEMA CERTS. Written Complaints raised by our Organization regarding dissatisfaction of our Audit Team/ assessment output is categorized as Appeal. This Procedure is also publicly available on SISTEMA CERTS website.

Appeal can also be made in writing to our office. When any appeal is received by SISTEMA CERTS, The issue is recorded in SISTEMA_F-015 Appeal Record Register Appeal Record Register within 8 hours by the MD. Acknowledgement of the receipt of Appeal is forwarded to the appellant within 2 working days, promising appropriate action will be taken within one month. The information about the receipt of the appeal is forwarded to the chairman of the impartiality committee. Record of all appeal is maintained for 3 years SISTEMA CERTS. Appeal related papers are also retained in the concerned client file.

Audit and certification related activities and decisions are performed by competent personnel/auditors. The MD is not involved in technical process (Audit and certification related process) therefore whenever any appeal against audit and certification decision is made by the client it is directly looked after by the MD without any discrimination. 

All the appeal that previously come to us is maintained and also MD compare if there is any similarity in current appeal with previous one & looks all the Correction and Corrective action of the last one. On receipt of such an appeal, the Managing Director, shall investigate the issue personally and shall take appropriate action which may include re-audit by another audit team. If the appellant is not satisfied or the appeal is not resolved within one month, the issue is forwarded to the chairman of the impartial committee for further action.

The Chairman takes appropriate action to investigate and resolve the issue. The decision by the chairman is taken in consultation with other members of the impartiality committee. The committee may pass appropriate action to the MD.

If the impartiality committee is not satisfied with the action taken by the MD the committee may highlight the issue before the appropriate regulatory authorities.

The MD/ the Impartiality Committee also ensure that the persons engaged in the appeals-handling process are different from those who were involved in the activities which cause the genesis of the appeal.

The impartiality committee shall try to resolve the issue within 2 months.

Update to Appellant:  The appellant is kept updated with progress in appeal handling process. All appeals are resolved or closed within 3 months of registration. The decision of the impartiality committee is final and further appeal is not entertained. A formal appeal closure report is sent to the appellant stating all the actions taken, and final decision of the appeal handling authority.

Appeal summary and decision of the Managing Director/Impartiality Committee is properly recorded in the concerned Client’s file.