Certification - Changing from 'Partnership' to 'Private Limited Company'

[dr madhavan]

The Constitution of a Certified Company (Certified under ISO 9001:2000 in Sept 2001) changes from a 'Partnership' to " Private Limited Company'.
The Products / processes of the unit have not changed. Only a minor chnage at the Top Management - Instead of three 'partners', now they call themselves 'Directors'
Is it necessary to get the QMS recertified now?.

[Marc]

You have to notify your registrar of the changes. As long as the systems are not affected by the change in titles and partnership changes your registrar will probably note it and review any changs in the next visit. I don't see a reason to 'recertify'.

[JodiB]

I agree with Marc.

The registrar will probably process it as a "change of name" and then review any changes to your org structure at the next surveillance visit. No big deal.

For "change of name", we used to require written notification and then we sent out a new contract under the new legal entity name. Then the certificate was reissued under the new name.
I went through this many many times as an Account Executive.

[dr madhavan]

If recertification is not required, will the certificate be reiissued and whether it will incur some payments?

[Marc]

I have yet to see a registrar do anything for free. However, to be nice they do incurr costs (administrative) to go through the motions. I would expect a registrar to charge for the switch but I could not say how much. Since Lucinda has done it she can probably give you a cost idea. I would figure a few hundred US$.

[Aaron Lupo]

Originally posted by Marc
I have yet to see a registrar do anything for free. However, to be nice they do incurr costs (administrative) to go through the motions. I would expect a registrar to charge for the switch but I could not say how much. Since Lucinda has done it she can probably give you a cost idea. I would figure a few hundred US$.

A few hundred US$ to issue a new certificate. I would agree that some of the larger Registrars will charge you. However, there are numerous Registrars that will provide you with a new Cert. free of charge, yes believe it or not, not all Registrars are out there ripping people off.

[JodiB]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner guys.

We didn't charge anything at all for the new certs.

YES we did incur costs : the cert paper was special and not overly cheap, the admin person to do the typing, the ops mgr to do the review, the accounts person to do the new contract and initiate the myriads of internal paperwork, the postage for the new contract (on nice contract letterhead) , the FedEx charges for the new certs (always always sent by trackable method), just to name a few of the costs.

But you get what you pay for. We were a well-known registrar and this is the type of service our clients expected when dealing with us.

I remember one company that went through three different legal name changes in as many years! (and I've been told that since I left, they've done it again!)