The ISO 9001 certificate has a validity of three years from the date of issue. Ensure your company continues to be certified because of the tremendous advantages that this entails. To maintain the ISO 9001 certificate, you must undergo a recertification audit.
To gain and maintain ISO 9001 certificate is not a single event. Still, a series of connected and ongoing audits ensure that the organization and its management system comply with ISO standards.
To maintain the ISO 9001 certificate, you enter a three-year cycle of audit of renewal certificate by conducting recertification audits that check your performance as per company objectives and then verify them for compliance to ISO Standard.
The recertification audit is similar to the Stage 2 Audit of the initial ISO 9001 certificate procedure. It is to ensure that there is no break in your certification. It allows your company to take corrective action as identified in the audit.
Where And How Long Does Recertification Audit is done?
Recertification for ISO 9001 certificate is like another audit cycle; duration is known with the formula set by UKAS. It is typically two-thirds of the time allocated for that of the initial audit.
The audit is conducted on-site. For multiple sites, it will include the head office and sites that have not initially gone through the surveillance audit and initial audit.
Audit Includes Recertification of ISO 9001 Certificate
The audit is similar to stage 2 of the ISO 9001 certification audit, and it will include:
- Any Issues that were there in earlier audits and nonconformities or areas that needed improvement
- Effectiveness and Efficiency of Quality Management System and how it is helping organization in achieving its objectives
- Review scope of certification and whether it is still applicable
- Audit processes and activities of operational control and operation following policies and procedures mentioned as per the organization
- Evaluation of internal audits and management policies and reviews
- The efficiency of preventive actions
- Effectiveness of corrective actions
- Effectiveness of Key performance indicators and objectives and ability to reach targets
A closing meeting will follow it. After that, you will receive a written report from the Auditor.
Remember that it is vital for the organization to address any nonconformity that the Auditor had identified before when initially you got ISO 9001 certificate. Any nonconformity must be rectified before third-year completion from the date the ISO 9001 certificate was issued. Failing to do so has the severe consequence of certification being withdrawn.
Once the audit procedure is complete, the audit report conforms to the requirement for a certificate, and everything goes well. Your organization will be issued with a new ISO 9001 certificate. Again, remember that after three years, you will require a recertificate audit to renew the ISO 9001 certificate.
