Certification Process

The Certification Process

Initial Presentation and Fee Proposal

A Global-Mark Client Manager will contact you to gain a good understanding of your operation, team, products or business, and your certification requirements. This can happen either over the phone or by a visit to your office/site. The Client Manager will also provide you with all the information you need regarding certification, Global-Mark’s processes, the fee structure and what will be required from your organisation. Once your Client Manager understands your requirements, they will provide you with a fee proposal detailing fees and costs. This is a free service and carries no obligation to proceed with certification.

Application

Once you have reviewed and accepted the fee proposal and wish to commit to the Global-Mark certification process, an approved signatory from your organisation should complete, sign and return a Client Agreement Form. The form is a formal contract between your organisation and Global-Mark Pty Ltd, and outlines your acceptance of the certification process, the rules governing certification and related accreditation marks, appeals and contractual terms and conditions.
Once the Client Agreement Form is received and the Application Fee has been paid, we will send you an acknowledgement of your application. Dependent on the program, a Global-Mark Certificate of Membership is also available and is useful in demonstrating your commitment towards gaining certification.

Document Review

Document Reviews are a requirement of certain programs (refer to the specific Program Information Brochure) and are conducted to ensure that the structure and content of the Management System is likely to meet the requirements of the standard. At the conclusion of the Document Review you will receive a report or letter outlining and explaining what we believe has been missed or is not clearly addressed. The report will also explain if a further Document Review is needed or if you may progress to the next stage.

Pre-Certification Review

A Pre-Certification Review is required for some programs and is optional for others (refer to the specific Program Information Brochure). The Pre-Certification Review is carried out at your office or on-site. It reviews the nature of the site processes, hazards, environmental impacts and aspects (as appropriate) and also verifies to a lesser extent the existence of systems as appropriate to their working context.
The aim of this step is to ensure that your organisation is likely to be ready for the Certification Review. At the conclusion of the Pre-certification Review you will receive a report supported by Review Findings, if any.

Certification Review

The Certification Review is carried out to determine whether your Management System or Product complies with the certification standard. The length of time that it takes to carry out the Certification Review will depend on your organisation, the standard, number of employees, shifts, products, process complexity and the number of sites. The duration and timing will be pre-arranged with you.
At the completion of the Certification Review your Client Manager will conduct a closing meeting where they will present the Review Findings and conclusions. These will be documented at the closing meeting and presented verbatim to your team. You will then receive a Review Report and Review Findings that will detail any areas of Non-Conformity, Improvement Requests, Observations and a Post-Certification Review Plan.
If there are no Non-Conformities your Client Manager will recommend certification to the Managing Director. The recommendation is then internally assessed and you will receive an email notification when the process has commenced. If approved, Global-Mark will inform you in writing that you have been successful and issue your Certificate of Approval, identifying the program/s to which your organisation is certified.
Your organisation is then granted the use of the Global-Mark® and, where appropriate, the JAS-ANZ mark, on stationery and marketing material. Your organisation is also listed on Global-Mark’s Register of Certified Organisations and, if applicable, the JAS-ANZ Register of Certified Organisations.

Post-Certification Review

Our programs contain a requirement for Post-Certification Reviews to be carried out at predetermined intervals from the date of your initial certification. These reviews are carried out in the same manner as the Certification Review and are necessary for Global-Mark to be assured that your system continues to comply with the standard and that certification continues to be maintained. Post-Certification Reviews are generally shorter in duration, due to the fact that only portions of the standard are being reviewed.

Re-Certification Review

A Business Review of the system, as a whole, is required to be completed every 3 years after the initial Certification Review, or last Re-Certification. It aims to confirm that the systems, in their entirety, are working well and that the links between processes are sound. The duration of the Re-Certification Review is generally longer than a normal Post-Certification Review, but shorter than the original Certification Review.
Based on the outcomes of the review, the Global-Mark Client Manager will recommend that certification be renewed, withheld or suspended. The recommendation is then internally assessed and you will receive an email notification when the process has been completed. A new Certificate of Approval is issued after a successful Re-certification.

Follow Up Review

A Follow Up Review is required if:

There are a large number of Improvement Requests
There are one or more Non-Conformities
There are changes within the organisation
A complaint has been raised with Global-Mark or a breach has been reported to Global-Mark or a related stakeholder
The integrity or compliance of the system, process or product needs to be verified, and is determined by Global-Mark
The scope of certification is to be extended
There is a change in the certification standard or requirements

Transfers to Global-Mark

The following information is for organisations wishing to transfer their management systems or product certification to Global-Mark from another certification body, and is in accordance with IAF and JASANZ requirements.

The certification transfer process commences once Global-Mark has issued a Client Fee Proposal and received a Client Agreement Form in acceptance.
Global-Mark shall formally notify the other certification body of the request to transfer and the proposed date of transfer (can be no more than 1 month after the date of the request).
For a certificate to be eligible for transfer, it must have been issued under one of the following, providing the certification program is within the scope of the signatory:
- European Accreditation (EA),
- Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC),
- Inter American Accreditation Corporation (IAAC), or
- IAF Multilateral Agreement (MLA) signatory.

If the existing certification is accredited by a body that belongs to a regional MLA only, the transfer shall be limited to other accreditations valid within that regional agreement. Organizations holding certificates that are not covered by such accreditations shall be treated as new clients.

- Only certifications which is covered by an accreditation of an IAF or Regional ML signatory at level 3 and where applicable level 4 and 5 shall be eligible for transfer. Organizations holding certification that is not covered by such accreditations shall be treated as new clients. (refer to www.JAS-ANZ.org or www.iaf.nu noting there is must be SIGNATORIES – not just members – and noting the relevant scope – may be QMS only – ).
- Only valid accredited certification shall be transferred. Certification which is known to be suspended shall not be accepted for transfer.
- In cases where certification has been granted by a certification body which has ceased trading or whose accreditation has expired, been suspended or withdrawn, the transfer shall be completed within 6 months or on expiration of the certification whichever is sooner. In such cases, the accepting certification body shall inform the accreditation body, under whose accreditation it intends to issue the certification, prior to the transfer.

Global-Mark must ensure that transfers are not initiated due to an organisation’s technical issues or lack of compliance.
The other certification body is required to provide the following information within one working week:
- Most recent review report.
- Most recent review findings.
- Corrective Actions to address non-conformances and acceptance of these from departing certification body, or evidence of documented attempts to close them (if applicable).
- Current certificate(s).
- Any information of current threats to certification, which would prevent the transfer.
- Any current engagement between certification body and regulatory body in regards to the transferring client relevant to the scope of certification in respect to legal compliance.
- For product certification reviews – a full copy of the technical file and current test reports (no older than 5 years) are also required.
Global-Mark will formally advise the departing certification body once the transfer process is complete.
Global-Mark will conduct a review of the certification by means of a documentation review (and where identified, a pre-transfer visit) to ensure the client’s certification falls within Global-Mark’s accredited scope and we have sufficient information to accept the transfer.

Please note that due to privacy reasons some certification bodies may elect not to provide report, findings and certificates, instead directing that these be obtained from the client.

For further information regarding transfers, please contact the Customer Service Centre.

Transfers from Global-Mark

The following information is for organisations wishing to transfer their management systems or product certification from Global-Mark to another certification body, and is in accordance with IAF and JASANZ requirements.

Requests received from a certification body, for a transfer of certification away from Global-Mark will be directed to the Customer Service Manager who shall coordinate the process
Global-Mark will confirm with the client that the request is genuine
Once the request is confirmed, Global-Mark will send information to the requesting certification body and may include:
- Any notification of threats to certification (including outstanding invoices), which would prevent the transfer
- Most recent review report
- Most recent review findings
- Current certificate(s)
Global-Mark shall maintain the certification in the JASANZ register and our internal register until the stipulated transfer date (or earlier if for example a review is overdue or certification is due to expire)

For further information regarding transfers, please contact the Customer Service Centre.

The Certification Process

Global-Mark recognises the everyday barriers some of us face to access information that should be available to everyone, whether that be a cultural, linguistic, or sensory barrier.

If you would like to access our information in another format, please contact our office.

Phone: +612 9886 0222

Email: customerservice@global-mark.com.au