3rd Party Certification and QMS Revisions

[JNIKQ]

Once a 3rd party has issued their Certification, are there restrictions to the level of revisions that can take place to the QMS documentation? If updating and "cleaning up" of procedures takes place does it invalidate the Certification?

 

[Jen Kirley]

Welcome to the Cove!

No, your certificate should not be impacted by updates to your documentation.

That said, if your management system scope changes, including adding or taking away processes and/or buildings, site size etc., it is important to notify your certifying body so your certificate can be made to reflect these changes. This process may include a review of documentation and possibly a visit for a limited "scope expansion" audit.

 

[yodon]

Agree with Jen. Somewhere in your agreement with them is probably some wording like you have to notify them (only) for "significant" changes. As Jen notes, this is most likely a scope change. Probably wouldn't hurt to give the agreement a read-through.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

If updating and "cleaning up" of procedures takes place does it invalidate the Certification?

A quality system is a dynamic entity. It has to change in order to remain relevant and appropriate to the organization and it's stakeholders. External drivers such as customer expectations and technology are ever changing, so your quality system must continually adapt, and, typically, at an increasing pace. An external party such as the CB issuing your certificate should never prevent you from being able to make your system up to date, but as previous posters mentioned, in case you have a "significant" change to the system, they have to be notified to assess if your current certificate is still valid or needs to be re-visited.

Depending on your business context, some customers also demand to be notified of such significant changes to your system.

 

[Randy]

Revise to your hearts content and until you run out of ink...Just control the process