CERTIFER HHC / DRS – Supporting your local and European ambitions.

Independence, impartiality and integrity

INDEPENDENCE, IMPARTIALITY AND INTEGRITY

The Management Board of CERTIFER HHC/DRS B.V. (hereinafter CERTIFER HHC/DRS) states that it is independent with respect to all parties concerned. The monitoring thereof is a responsibility of the top management and is implemented at all levels within the organisation.

CERTIFER HHC/DRS and its personnel that is responsible for the inspection, product certification, process certification and/or service certification is not the designer, manufacturer, supplier, installer, buyer, owner, user or maintenance performer of the objects, products, processes and/or services it inspects and certifies, respectively. CERTIFER HHC/DRS and its personnel is also not an authorised representative of one or more of these parties. 

The independence, impartiality and integrity of CERTIFER HHC/DRS are emphasised by the accreditation according to EN-ISO/IEC 17020:2012 accredited type A, EN-ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 and EN-ISO/IEC 17065:2012.

CERTIFER HHC/DRS and its personnel is not involved in giving advice, performing internal audits, developing or maintaining the system, service or product to be certified, nor is it the authorised representative of one or more of these parties. 

CERTIFER HHC/DRS and its personnel must not become involved with activities that could conflict with the independence of their judgement and their integrity with regard to their inspection and (product) certification activities. That is why no advice or consultancy services are offered to clients.

All interested parties can utilise the services of CERTIFER HHC/DRS. No excessive financial or other conditions are imposed. Additionally, CERTIFER HHC/DRS does not accept financial support other than for work performed. Market-based rates, which are determined annually, are used for the purpose of this work. The procedures according to which CERTIFER HHC/DRS works, are applied in a non-discriminatory manner. 

In order to appropriately follow this policy, each staff member has signed a copy of “Rules of conduct employees” (D022a). In addition, the suppliers who have access to the processes and related data due to their service have signed a “Rules of conduct suppliers” (D022b).

Personnel involved in the system certification or production certification work has signed an additional statement regarding confidentiality, independent exercise of judgement and integrity. This statement is discussed periodically during the performance and/or review meeting. Their ancillary activities are inventoried (by means of a form D022c) that are used as input for the purpose of a risk inventory and evaluation.

Certification activities are not outsourced or subcontracted.

The process with respect to disclosure, explanation and periodic evaluation in relation to independence, impartiality and integrity is an integral part of the quality manual.

For the purpose of inspection, system certification and product certification, risk analyses have been conducted. The risk analyses are evaluated at least annually during the management review. The commission (ACAI) that reviews the independence and impartiality of CERTIFER HHC/DRS shall also do so annually and compile a report on it. To this end, they convene at least once a year and they may request any relevant information (also during the year) which they believe to be necessary for this.

The task of the commission is to protect the impartiality and independence by supervising the activities of CERTIFER HHC/DRS, evaluating the decision-making processes at least annually, assessing the financial sources of income and giving requested and unsolicited advice.

The commission is authorised to take action independently if their advice is not honoured by the Management Board of CERTIFER HHC/DRS.

If new risks arise in the course of the year, the risk analysis will be adjusted and the risk analysis will be communicated to the members of the commission.

February 2023

Jean-Marc Dupas
Managing Director CERTIFER HHC/DRS