Request for ISO cert with 6 month validity, conflict with Recert date

Casana

Blueberry Nut
Looking for ideas on how to handle this issue. We export product to Bolivia, and they have some very “unique” requirements for approving import of foreign products.
One of these requirements is that the ISO 9001 certification needs to have 6 months of validity, and we will be submitting al required documentation by Dec 31.

We will be having our recertification audit in November – and knowing our site and our registrar, I expect at least one minor finding. Does not take much math to figure out how tight this timeline is.

We also use a subcontractor lab (ISO17025) that has its certification expiring May 2024, which again will not have 6 months validity by Dec 31.

I guess I could ask the registrar to provide a letter explaining this situation ie that we’re scheduled for recert in November, if all requirements are met we should have our updated cert by Y date… ? Any other suggestions?
 

geoffairey

Involved In Discussions
Assuming you’re on a 3 year audit cycle, you’d need to move to a full audit every 2 or 2.5 years to ensure you always have at least 6 months on any certification.
 

Casana

Blueberry Nut
Assuming you’re on a 3 year audit cycle, you’d need to move to a full audit every 2 or 2.5 years to ensure you always have at least 6 months on any certification.
Not sure if that would work - I think it would just reset the date for the next recertification audit.

Its happened already to us - for one site, we used to have the recert audit in Oct, with a cert date of December. One year we had no findings, so they gave us the certificate right away with an October date, so our recert date is now August.
 

geoffairey

Involved In Discussions
Not sure if that would work - I think it would just reset the date for the next recertification audit.

Its happened already to us - for one site, we used to have the recert audit in Oct, with a cert date of December. One year we had no findings, so they gave us the certificate right away with an October date, so our recert date is now August.
That was the idea, you would always have at least 6 months of cert leeway, you’d just have more frequent audits.
no CB is going to audit you in October and give you a cert which lasts 3.5 years.
 

Golfman25

Trusted Information Resource
Who's requirement is it? Only thing I can think of is don't ship to Bolivia the last 6 months of your cert. Make it their problem.
 

Casana

Blueberry Nut
Who's requirement is it? Only thing I can think of is don't ship to Bolivia the last 6 months of your cert. Make it their problem.
ha! Sales will definitely not like this suggestion, LOL!
It is a government import requirement so no way around it. And they're royal !@#$ about it too (I've had certificates rejected because I did not center the document title).
 

Sidney Vianna

Post Responsibly
Leader
Admin
Any other suggestions?
Why can’t you move the recert audit to September?

By the way, when a certificate is renewed, it should be valid for 3 years from the previous expiration date, not from the certification decision or the last day of the recert audit. If the CB is not granting you full 3 years of validity, they are cheating you.
 

Golfman25

Trusted Information Resource
Why can’t you move the recert audit to September?

By the way, when a certificate is renewed, it should be valid for 3 years from the previous expiration date, not from the certification decision or the last day of the recert audit. If the CB is not granting you full 3 years of validity, they are cheating you.
That's interesting. I have been "cheated" for 20+ years. They have always made the cert effective shortly after the audit. This has effectively moved our audit dates up a few weeks each cycle. Good to know for my soon to be new CB.
 

Casana

Blueberry Nut
@Sidney Vianna Agreed that we got cheated for those two months, but I don't manage the registrar communications and this did not get caught until too late (this is good info!!)
Even if we change the date of our certificate (not likely), I still have this problem with our supplier certificates though. :yuk:
I've told Sales about this and offered to reach out to the registrars for an explanation letter. I'm sure we're not the only ones with this problem!
 

geoffairey

Involved In Discussions
Why can’t you move the recert audit to September?

By the way, when a certificate is renewed, it should be valid for 3 years from the previous expiration date, not from the certification decision or the last day of the recert audit. If the CB is not granting you full 3 years of validity, they are cheating you.
Surely there’s a limitation on the maxim7m timeframe between an audit and the start date of the cert. What’s to stop you going through 2 x certification audits in 3 months and then having 5 years and 9 months before having to recert.
 
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