IMPARTIALITY POLICY STATEMENT
Being impartial is necessary for IAB to deliver accreditation services for certification bodies� i.e. trainings, audits and inspections to provide the confidence. This also enables IAB to maintain the professionalism and credibility of the audit and certification process. IAB also ensures that impartiality is documented and maintained in true letter by all our certification bodies. It is therefore the objective of IAB to ensure that impartiality is maintained as an integral part of the Audit, trainings and Inspection process. IAB is an independent organization, which ensures that it retains its impartiality. IAB will not accept applications for certification, training or inspection of organizations who report directly to a person or group who also have operational responsibility for IAB. IAB shall not provide consultancy services and will not allow any of its accredited certification body to offer consultancy and audit services simultaneously to the same client.
General IAB Requirements
Responsibility for ensuring impartiality of services is the responsibility of both the leadership and the staff of each CAB. Evidence of compliance with the following is checked by IAB at each assessment:
Identified threats to impartiality, including relationships of individual staff, consultants, vendors and from the business interests and stakeholders of the company itself, whether actual or perceived;
Business, personal or professional relationships of the organization or its personnel do not necessarily create a threat to impartiality, but must be identified and evaluated on a case-by-case basis;
�CABs accredited under ISO/IEC Standards 17021-1, 17024 and 17065 are required to have a mechanism for safeguarding impartiality, such as an impartiality committee involving external stakeholders. The effectiveness of the mechanism for impartiality is always assessed during IAB assessments;
Evidence that the applicant or accredited organization’s senior leadership is aware of potential threats to impartiality in their accredited services and, when necessary, have approved the necessary policies and procedures to minimize these risks;
Regular/documented management reviews that address threats to impartiality;
Defined/written policies and procedures to minimize threats to impartiality;
Documented training and agreement of staff, including the top management, on potential threats to impartiality, and approved policies and procedures intended to minimize these threats;
and Availability of services to any party without restriction.