VII. Certificates

Instructions :

Proceed as follows to add a certificate, starting from the left menu:

1- Click on “Organisations”

2- Enter the organisation name in the filter field and click on “Filter”

3- Open the organisation

4- Click on “Audits” in the left-hand side menu

5- Identify and click on the corresponding audit to open it

6- Click on “Certificates” in the left-hand side menu (bottom)

7- Click on “Add certificate”

8- Select the applicable standard(s) or scheme(s)

9- Complete all the fields (for the scope statement and category see notes below)

10- “Save”

Notes :

• The field “Sites included in the certificates”, allows to select the subsites covered by the certificate.
• The field “Accreditation body” field in the certificates is mandatory for the IAF certificates and pre-filled with the name of your AB(s).
• At least for IAF certificates, it is necessary to create a new certificate for each certification cycle, ancient certificates must therefore be changed to “expired” and shall not be updated with the data of the new certification cycle.
• All existing subsites’ data (except the “Description” field) are automatically injected into certificates module at the time of the creation of the audit folder.
• Any modifications of the subsites’ data after the creation of the audit folders will not impact on the data carried over in these existing certificates.
• For more information about the required rights to do this action, see: Roles and access rights

Note 1:

• Scope statement is proposed from the data entered in the audit report. It can be adapted, but it is better to change it in the audit report, so that it is already updated for the future audit report (“stable” fields are taken over from a previous audit report to the next one) and so the future certificate.
• Certificate address: the address appearing on the certificates is prefilled from the organisation profile. So, if the organisation’s address changes, it’s important to edit the organisation profile to adapt it to have the right address appearing on future certificates.

Note 2:

How to interpret the various possible certificate status and make sure using the correct one?

• Valid; An active certificate. The organisation is certified and meets the requirements.
• Suspended. The organisation does not meet the certification requirements. The CB has decided that the certificate is temporarily invalid (Sanction). The organisation has an imparted time frame to meet the certification requirements. If the requirements are not met within the imparted time frame the certificate is withdrawn.
• Withdrawn: The organisation does not met the certification requirements. The CB has decided to withdraw the certificate. The certificate is invalid (Sanction).
• Cancelled: The certified organisation has voluntary decided to terminate the certificate. The certificate is invalid but this is not the result of a sanction.
• Transferred: The certificate has been transferred by one another CB.

Tips and recommendations :

• Only not expired valid or suspended certificates are published in the public list
• The certificate will usually be visible on the applicable public list 1 hour after adding it on the Database
• If the company’s scope statement covers more than one category, just tick as many categories as applicable by editing the certificate

Mistakes to avoid :

• Do not use specific characters as: “,; in the scope description

Instructions :

Proceed as follows to add a FAMI-QS certificate, starting from the left menu:

1- Click on “Organisations”

2- Enter the organisation name in the filter field and click on “Filter”

3- Open the organisation

4- Click on “Audits” in the left-hand side menu

5- Identify and click on the corresponding audit to open it

6- Click on “Certificates” in the left-hand side menu (bottom)

7- Click on “Add certificate”

8- Select the FAMI-QS – Code of practice V6 standard

9- Complete the fields:

• Decision date
• Initial issue date: the date at which the certificate was firstly issued in the same certification cycle.
• Last update:
  • Same as Initial issue date in case of a new certificate
  • Date of change (e.g. scope) within the current certification cycle
• Expiry date: In case of changes during the certification cycle, the expiry date will remain the same as in the first certificate for the same cycle.
• Certificate status

10- “Save” (All other fields are retaken from the organisation page or the audit report)
11- Click on “Submit to Scheme Owner” to validate certificate data internally and submit it to FAMI-QS for validation (Validation by CB reviewer only)
12- FAMI-QS receives an automatic notification and is invited to validate the certificate
13- Once validated by FAMI-QS, certificate data are automatically published on the public list

Notes :

• Only the following certificate data are published on the FAMI-QS public list:
  • Not expired certificates
  • Certificates validated by FAMI-QS
• On the first page of the public list, only the “Valid” certificates are indicated in the counter, but the certificate list in the following page displays all the other certificate status as well (withdrawn, cancelled…)
• The comment section of the certificate page within the database is only visible for CB and FAMI-QS (not on the public list)
• In case the certificate is not accepted by FAMI-QS or contains any mistake it is unlocked by FAMI-QS and no more visible on the public list:
  • 1- Update the data on the Database
  • 2- Refresh the corresponding section
  • 3- Submit the new certificate to FAMI-QS
  • 4- Once the new certificate validated by FAMI-QS
    • Notification:
      • FAMI-QS will receive a notification when a new certificate has been proposed for validation.
      • In case FAMI-QS validates or unlocks a certificate, the CB super user and the CB user who submitted the certificate will receive an email notification.
      • In case a CB user unlocks a certificate, FAMI-QS will receive an email notification.
    • Multisite organisation: As soon as a not expired multisite certificate is validated by FAMI-QS:
      • Each site is visible in a specific line on the public list in addition to the main site
      • Subsites are marked with a red star
      • FAMI-QS number, Site name, city and country are retaken from the details of each site available in the organisation page
      • Status, Certified from, Expiry date are retaken from the main certificate that contains the sites
      • For each subsite, the invoice address published in the public list will be the same as the address of the subsite

Tips and recommendations:

• For updating certificates data: please refer to the section “Refresh certificate”

Mistakes to avoid :

• Forget to unlock the previous certificate in case of new certification cycle!

Instructions :

Proceed as follow to edit an existing certificate, starting from the left menu:

1- Click on “Organisations”

2- Enter the organisation name in the search field and click on Apply

3- Open the organisation (by clicking on its name)

4- Click on “Certificates” in the left-hand side menu

5- Choose and open the corresponding certificate to edit

6- Click on “Edit”

7- Edit the corresponding fields

8- “Save”

Notes:

• For more information about the required rights to do this action, see: Roles and access rights

Tips and recommendations:

It’s not possible to change the assigned standard of an existing certificate.

Mistakes to avoid:

• FAMI-QS: forget to submit certificate to SO for validation

Instructions :

Only applicable for specific certificates

This function allows to update a certificate by taking over certificate related data that have been changed either in the organisation page or in the audit folder.

Proceed as follow to edit/refresh the data of an existing certificate, starting from the left menu:

• Click on “Organisations”
• Enter the organisation name in the search field and click on Apply
• Open the organisation (by clicking on its name)
• Click on “Certificates” in the left-hand side menu
• Choose and open the certificate to be edited/refreshed

To refresh data retaken from the organisation page, such as “Organisation name”, Address”, …:

• Click on “Refresh organisation’s data”

To refresh data retaken from the audit folder, such as “scope”:

• Click on “Refresh audit’s data”

Notes:

• All existing subsites’ data (except the “Description” field) are automatically injected into the certificates module at the time of the creation of the audit folder.
• Any modifications of the subsites’ data after the creation of the audit folders will not impact on the data carried over in these existing certificates.
• For more information about the required rights to do this action, see: Roles and access rights

Mistakes to avoid:

• FAMI-QS: forget to submit certificate to SO for validation

Instructions :

Proceed as follows to generate multisite certificates based on the same organisation and audit, starting from the left menu:

1 Add a new organisation or edit an existing organisation to add sites

2- In the section multisite organisation, enter the details for one site (Site number, Site name, Address…)

3- Click on “Add another site” to open a new section and enter the details for the second site (Site number, Site name, Address…) and proceed with adding all the sites

4- Save

5- Click on “Audits” in the left-hand side menu

6- Add the audit data

7- Click on “Certificates” in the left-hand side menu (bottom)

8- Click on “Add certificate”

9- Select the applicable standard(s) or scheme(s)

10- Complete all the fields and save

The details of all the sites will be visible in a section “Included sites” in the certificate

Notes:

• All existing subsites’ data (except the “Description” field) are automatically injected into the audit folder and the certificates module at the time of the creation of the audit folder.
• Any modifications of the subsites’ data after the creation of the audit folders will not impact on the data carried over in these existing certificates.

Tips and recommendations:

• To edit the sites details in the certificate, first edit the organisation to adjust the sites data, generate a new Audit folder, then generate a new certificate

Instructions :

Proceed as follow to delete a certificate, starting from the left menu:

1- Click on Organisations

2- Enter the organisation name in the search field and click on Apply

3- Open the organisation (by clicking on its name)

4- Click on Certificates in the left-hand side menu

5- Chose and open the corresponding certificate

6- Click on “Delete”

7- Confirm

Notes:

• For more information about the required rights to do this action, see: Roles and access rights

Instructions :

In case of recertification (certificate renewal), you can either (according to scheme owner instructions):

1. Create a new certificate with specific dates, or
2. Edit the existing certificate and change issue and expiry dates

Note :

For IAF certificate, each certificate needs a unique number. So, better choose the option 1.

Instructions :

Proceed as follow to edit a certificate in case of suspension or withdrawal, starting from the left menu:

1- Click on “Organisations”

2- Enter the organisation name in the filter field

3- Open the organisation

4- Click on “Certificates” in the left-hand side menu

5- Identify the corresponding certificate

6- Open the certificate

7- Click on “Edit”

8- Go to the bottom of the page

9- Adapt the certificate status following the case: tick box valid / suspended / withdrawn

10-“Save”

Notes:

• For more information about the required rights to do this action, see: Roles and access rights
• FAMI-QS certificates: in case of status change
  • Unlock the certificate (if already validated by FAMI-QS)
  • Update the status of the certificate
  • Submit again the certificate to FAMI-QS for validation

General :

For obvious confidentiality reasons ViaSyst is not allowed to transfer an organisation folder from one CB to the other.

Only the certified organisation, as report owner, can decide to share the previous report(s) with the new CB.

Instructions :

Certified organisation:

Login to the existing access within the former CB environment and download the report(s) to be shared with the new CB.

Require both the former and the new CB to follow the following instructions.

Former CB:

The former CB has to unlock (or cancel) the certificate (if the transfer is done in the course of a certification cycle)

New CB:

The new CB has to create a new certificate as follows:

1 – Add the organisation

2- Create a new audit

• In audit folder, select the checklist “Pre-transfer review”
• In the section “Details”, in the field audit type, select “Pre-transfer review”
• and complete the following fields: “Activity”, “Single ingredients”, Mixtures”, “Formulation”, “Scope”

3-Create one certificate (linked to the audit previously created) following the instructions below:

• “Issue date”:enter the date at which the certificate has been issued by the new CB
• “Valid until date”: enter the date of end of validity period entered previously by the former
• “Decision date”: enter the date at which the company was certified for the first time by the former CB
• “Status”select “valid”

4- Click on “Submit to Scheme Owner” to submit the certificate to FAMI-QS for validation

5- After validation by the Scheme Owner, the new certificate will be visible on the FAMI-QS public list

Notes:

The former CB, the new CB and the certified organisation should operate the transfer in compliance with the scheme owner’s instructions

• Former CB:After the certificate is transferred the former CB shall unlock or cancel the existing certificate (once the certificate will be unlocked, it will no more be visible in the public certificate directory)
• New CB: Create a certificate with the status “valid”.

Instructions :

Proceed as follows to extract certificate’s data, starting from the left menu:

1- Click on “Certificates”

2- Click on “Extract” available under the filter fields

3- The Excel Extract will automatically be downloaded

4- Save the file as “Excel File” (drop list in excel)

Notes :

• The option “Extract” is available for all CB users but the content of the extraction is restricted to the organisations that are assigned to them
• The Extraction is a simple way to browse in a unique file the list of all the certificates generated by the Certification Body on the Database: displays one line per certificate which contains all the details about certification such as: standards, scope, validity period, certificate status…