Impartiality Policy

TUV Austria Bureau of Inspection & Certification (Pvt.) Ltd. is the legal entity responsible for certification activities related to different schemes.

TUV Austria BIC., its Top Management, Managers, and Staff fully understand the importance of impartiality in undertaking its Certification Activities. Therefore, TUV Austria BIC. will ensure that in all its dealings with clients or potential clients, all employees or other personnel will remain impartial and do not allow commercial, financial, or other pressures to compromise impartiality; this will also maintain under their contracts and appointment letters. Accordingly, the following principles have been established.

• TUV Austria BIC.’s top management is committed to ensuring impartiality.
• All of the personnel of TUV Austria BIC. (either internal or external) or committee members who could influence the certification activities always ensure impartially.
• TUV Austria BIC. Certificates are only issued after an independent and impartial decision committee review to ensure no interest exists.
• TUV Austria BIC. does not certify another certification body for its management system certification activities.
• TUV Austria does not offer (and has never offered) management system consultancy or any other form of consultancy to companies or individuals.
• TUV Austria BIC. does not offer (and has never offered) an internal audit service to companies or individuals.
• TUV Austria BIC. does not own or have any interest (financial or otherwise) in any other company that offers certification, management system consultancy, or internal audit services.
• TUV Austria BIC. does not outsource audits to a management system consultancy organization, as this poses an unacceptable threat to the impartiality of the certification body.
• TUV Austria BIC. and or any part of the same legal entity under its administrative control shall not:

1. 1.  Be the designer, manufacturer, installer, distributor, or maintainer of the certified product.
   2.  Be the certified process designer, implementer, operator, or maintainer.
   3.  Be the certified service designer, implementer, provider, or maintainer.

• TUV Austria BIC. Identifies all risks to its impartiality on an ongoing basis through its personnel records, e.g., their experience letters, etc. Any proposed risks associated with TUV Austria BIC. will undergo a risk assessment by the Impartiality Committee before that relationship is formalized.
• TUV Austria BIC. does not have (and will not form) any relationships with companies that offer consultancy, internal audit services, or other services that can be construed as impacting the certification services provided by TUV Austria. Any proposed relationship between TUV Austria BIC. and any other company will undergo a risk assessment by the Impartiality Committee before that relationship is formalized.
• Any current relationships with companies, organizations, and individuals will be assessed for the risks regularly to ensure that the relationship does not impact the impartiality of the certification process. The Impartiality Committee will review the risk assessment.
• Individuals employed by or otherwise contracted to TUV Austria BIC. Must document and record their current and past relationships with all companies. Any situation past or present associated with the potential conflict of interest is declared by TUV Austria BIC.. TUV Austria BIC. will use the information to identify any threats to impartiality and will not use that individual in any capacity unless they can demonstrate that there is no conflict of interest. The Impartiality Committee will review the risk assessment.
• TUV Austria BIC. does not allocate a member of staff or sub-contractor to a management system audit, review, or certification decision where any past relationship has existed. Exceptionally and at the Operations Manager’s or Top Management’s discretion, an individual or subcontractor may be allocated to a management system audit where a past relationship has existed. Still, there has been no relationship for a minimum of 2 years. The Impartiality Committee will review the risk assessment.
• TUV Austria BIC. Ensures that activities of separate legal entities, with which the certification body or the legal entity of which it forms a part has relationships, do not compromise the impartiality of its certification activities.
• TUV Austria BIC. Takes appropriate legal action to respond to any risks to its impartiality arising from the activities of other persons, bodies, or organizations of which it becomes aware.

We will review all employees at least annually to ensure that they remain impartial when conducting audits.

CEO | TUV Austria Bureau of Inspection & Certification (Pvt.) Ltd.