Are the Accreditation Bodies doing their job? Keeping CB's accountable?

Sidney Vianna

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In the Guidance Paper from the ISO TC 176, available @ https://committee.iso.org/files/live/sites/tc176sc2/files/documents/ISO 9001 Auditing Practices Group docs/Auditing to ISO 9001 2015/APG-StatutoryRegulatory2015.pdf ,we read the following:

If auditors become aware of any deliberate legal noncompliance that could affect the image and credibility of the QMS before, during, or after the audit (including, for example, breach of antitrust law, labour law, health and safety or environmental regulations) then this should be taken into consideration and investigated further, as appropriate. Apart from the regulatory authority’s action, it is for the auditors to assess the effectiveness of the QMS in meeting customer requirements (stated or generally implied) and report this to the certification and registration body management to take appropriate actions.

To exemplify, most are well aware of the Volkswagen dieselgate scandal. VW has (or had) ISO 9001:2015/ISO 14001:2015 certification from a prominent german CB. While the cheating would not be uncovered by a typical ISO 9001/14001 audit for obvious reasons, now the world knows VW admitted to wrongdoing, according to text of the ISO APG paper I quoted above, the CB should react. Did they? If not, did their AB do anything about it? While the need to balance confidentiality and transparency is hard to juggle, the Conformity Assessment sector has had multiple chances to DEMONSTRATE will keep organizations accountable to the expectations of their stakeholders

Another high profile case in my (previous) home country: How German firm approved Brazil dam before tragedy
 
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