A10: In consideration of this extraordinary period, for schemes of management system certification, product certification and certification of persons under IAF MLA, if it is not possible to perform evaluation activities (physically or as per IAF MD4: 2018), such as audits or exams, and if the conditions recommended by IAF ID3: 2011 are satisfied, all the conformity assessment activities (e.g. surveillances, recertification) may be postponed for up to 6 months, and the validity of any output of any conformity assessment activity (e.g. a certificate or report) may be extended for a corresponding period of up to 6 months. In this last instance, in order to document this to the client, if applicable, it is strongly suggested to issue an extension letter, which ratifies this extended validity and its period. This is essential to guarantee transparency and a correct communication to the external market. Appropriate records should also be updated. However, this could change for specific schemes. For validation and verification, particularly the greenhouse gas (GHG) validation and verification at project or organizational level, they are normally one-off conformity activities, therefore the IAF ID3 guidelines related to surveillance, recertification, extension of certification and recertification cycle etc. may not be applicable. However, for the assessment and accreditation of validation and verification bodies (VVBs), IAF ID3 can be used (see A11), and the remote approaches as per IAF MD4:2018 can be used by both ABs and VVBs (see A12).
Updated on 23/03/2020 to include all IAF MLA main scopes.
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