What are the steps to transfer TS 16949 certification or switch registrars?

[jenboy]

My company has recently decided to use the same ISO/TS 16949 registrar as our current ISO 14001 registrar. Our current ISO/TS registrar is not too happy about this and has sent me a letter with this verbiage:

This is to confirm our communication of June 5, 2012 regarding your company’s request to withdraw the registration of Ref ID# ####### (File# #####). Based on this, this company. will proceed with the withdrawal of the ISO/TS 16949 registration associated
with Ref ID# ####### (File# #####).Please notify us immediately if you wish to discuss this further.

Please be advised that This Company. has initiated the withdrawal of This Company'sQuality Management System Registration Ref ID# ####### (File# #####). All future assessment activities have been cancelled. To complete the withdrawal process we request the following:
1. Return of the Certificate of Registration and Plaque.
2. Removal of the This Company's Registered Firm Mark from all materials.
3. Removal of claims to This Company's. Registration.
4. Customers have been informed of Registration Withdrawal.

I'm not really comfortable with this since our registration does not expire until November, and our audit is scheduled for mid-September. I received a phone call from the account rep and he says they need 30-60 days for the withdrawl process, so they want to start it right away.

Is anyone familiar with this process? We are not under any contractual obligation to stay with this registrar and I don't recall "requesting withdrawl" from anything. Isn't our registration good until the cert expires? Does this "withdrawl" risk a lapse in our Quality System certification?

I'd appreciate any thoughts on this. The last time I worked for a company, we called them, extended our regrets and severed business ties. The next company came in, performed a 4.5 day recert and transfer audit and there was no "withdrawl" of any kind.

Thanks!

[Sidney Vianna]

Transferring a TS 16949 certificate is more complex than an ISO 9001 certificate. The IATF Rules Book has additional requirements compared to the IAF MD2 document. I believe that you would have to start from scratch with a stage 1 audit, since you have just a few months left in your current certificate.

From the registrar perspective, I am sure they want to free up the auditor(s) lined up for your September audit. Yes, they might be retaliating a little bit now that they know you will no longer be using their services, but I would think you would have used your ISO 14001 registrar to educate you in the transfer process of your TS certificate. If certification lapse is a problem for your organization, you are in a tough spot now. Contact the other CB and ask them how soon they could audit you for your TS certification.

[jenboy]

Thanks, I did contact our new CB and she was mortified by the other registrar's premature actions. I checked the Certification Scheme Rules myself and found that they can withdraw our certificate if there is a noncompliance with the certification contract or if there was a commercial reason. These issues do not apply to this situation, our account is in good standing as is our credit rating and our certification has been unblemished for years. My plant manager came to my office and called the legal department right away, so we are pushing back - but in case there is some litigation, our new CB is ready for a call if they need to get in here a couple months early!

[Big Jim]

In Reply to Parent Post by jenboy

Thanks, I did contact our new CB and she was mortified by the other registrar's premature actions. I checked the Certification Scheme Rules myself and found that they can withdraw our certificate if there is a noncompliance with the certification contract or if there was a commercial reason. These issues do not apply to this situation, our account is in good standing as is our credit rating and our certification has been unblemished for years. My plant manager came to my office and called the legal department right away, so we are pushing back - but in case there is some litigation, our new CB is ready for a call if they need to get in here a couple months early!

Their treatment of you is inexcusable unless there is more to the story. I assume that you have tried to reason with them. Usually once you get lawyers involved the only real winners are the lawyers.

On the other hand, a letter from an attorney just may wake them up to their obligations.

I wish you well no matter how it turns out.

[Sidney Vianna]

In Reply to Parent Post by Big Jim

Their treatment of you is inexcusable unless there is more to the story. I assume that you have tried to reason with them.

I agree with that. It is "petty retaliation", but let's remember that one of the conditions for the certificate to remain valid is for the CB to perform surveillance/re-certification audits according to the schedule. If I am not mistaken, under the IATF rules, the re-certification audit should be scheduled around 3 months prior to the certificate expiration. If the current CB does not perform the re-cert audit in September, then they would be justified to cancel the certificate.

That's why I said the TS cert transfer process could have been better planned so, there was no lapse in validity and I would hope the incoming CB has the resources to perform the stage 1 and 2 audits before September.