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Safeguarding Impartiality Management
This covers all type of activities performed by the NIPL, in matters related to assessment and certification of client’s management system.
NIPL has established a system to identify, analyze, evaluate, treat, monitor, and document the risks, arising out of any conflict of interest of its top management, auditors, certification decision makers, due to its relationship with any organization or business interest, or from the activities of other associated persons, bodies or organizations. The system requires that the CEO shall review and document, at least once in every 6 months, all potential risks and threats to the impartiality of our assessment and certification process. However in case of any imminent threat or risk, the issue is identified and documented in record by the CEO, even before the scheduled time. The CEO interacts with subject experts and the risk/ threat is analyzed, evaluated and appropriate action is taken to neutralize or minimize the risk/ threat. Result of action and result is monitored and associated information is recorded.
To ensure impartiality in its assessment and certification process, NIPL has resolved and established a policy that it shall never establish any subsidiary or any joint venture or any business partnership that may pose an unacceptable threat to impartiality. It has further resolved to not accept applications for assessment & certification from organizations where its auditors or decision makers have any relationship of direct financial interest. After taking action to neutralize or mitigate risk/ threat, the top management reviews, whether any residual risk falls within unacceptable or acceptable risk. If it falls within acceptable threat range, further action is not taken. Monitoring is done and as and when the risk escalates additional action is taken to eliminate the risk.
If even after taking action to contain/ eliminate the threat, it still poses unacceptable risk to our impartiality, the issue is discussed with the Impartiality committee and their advice is recorded in the minutes of the Impartiality committee. The CEO acts upon the recommendations of the impartiality committee. To oversee all issues related to impartiality and to ensure elimination of actual or perceived partiality, NIPL has established a 5 member “Committee for safeguarding Impartiality” commonly called the Impartiality committee. The committee is not employee of NIPL and has supervisory authority over its assessment and certification process.
Members of the Impartiality committee are selected from the civil society and are not employee of the NIPL. The CEO who is the Secretary/ convener of the committee and a nonvoting member, implements the decisions of the committee. Care is taken to ensure that no single group interest shall prevail over the decisions of the committee. The Impartiality Committee meets at least once every 6 months and reviews assessment and certification processes. Those cases where bias is suspected, are investigated in detail. Appropriate action is taken to correct the situation and further management system improvement is done to prevent occurrence of such cases. Any member of the impartiality committee can call a meeting of the impartiality meeting even before 6 months, and call any document/ record for perusal by the committee.
The committee can order revision and addition in Manuals, SOPs work process to eliminate chance of bias, if any. Minutes of the meeting of the impartiality committee is documented and maintained for at least 3 years. The Impartiality committee performs ombudsmen job, and credibility and reputation of the certification body depends on its performance.