Impartiality / Confidentiality Policy

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All information received by or available to IQSR staff, sub-contractors, or committee members (in whatever format) received in conducting Audit activities, or during other certification activities, or during any dealings with an organization for any other reason shall be regarded as strictly confidential and shall not be divulged to any 3rd party (unless specified in ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015) without the express permission of the organization or individual concerned. 

The requirement to keep confidential any information will also include any organization that has a legitimate right to audit or evaluate IQSR.

Where IQSR is required by law to release confidential information to a third party the client or individual concerned shall, unless regulated by law, be notified in advance of the information provided.

However, where the organization is seen to be operating contrary to legal requirements or has operating practices which pose a danger to staff, customers or the environment IQSR reserves the right to immediately report any such incident to the relevant authority. Any such reporting will only be undertaken with the permission of top management.

All records, at IQSR, will be retained in a secure manner, only accessible to authorized staff via either paper records or password controlled electronic records. Sub-contractors will be limited to accessing information produced by them in conducting an Audit. Records will only be made available to organizations who can demonstrate a legitimate (and legal) right to view those records and specifically to Accreditation Bodies.

All staff, Sub Contractors, CEOs and Committee Members will be required to agree to IQSR confidentiality policy and sign a confidentiality agreement. Sub-contractors will also sign an agreement which also contains the responsibility to maintain confidentiality.

IQSR is the legal entity responsible for certification activities; reference to IQSR in this Policy and Public Statement refers to these legal entities.

IQSR its managers, Staff and Subcontractors fully understands the importance of impartiality in undertaking its Certification Activities. IQSR will therefore ensure that in all its dealings with clients or potential clients all employees or other personnel are and will remain impartial. To ensure that impartiality is both maintained and can be demonstrated the following principals have been established.

• IQSR Certificates are only issued following a review by an independent authorized and competent member of the management team (who has not been involved in the Audit) to ensure that no interest shall predominate.
• IQSR does not offer (and has never offered) consultancy or any other form of consultancy to companies or individuals. 
• IQSR does not offer (and has never offered) an internal audit service to its certified clients.
• IQSR does not own or have any interest (financial or otherwise) in any other company that offers certification or related consultancy services.
• IQSR does not have (and will not form) any relationships with companies who offer consultancy or other services that can be construed as having an impact on the certification services provided by company any proposed relationship between company and any other company will undergo a risk assessment by the Committee for Impartiality prior to that relationship being formalized. Any current relationships with companies, organizations and individuals will be risk assessed on a regular basis to ensure that the relationship does not impact upon the impartiality of the certification process.
• Individuals employed by or otherwise contracted to IQSR are required to document and record their current and past relationships with all companies. Any situation past or present which may present a potential conflict of interest is required by IQSR to be declared. IQSR will use the information to identify any threats to impartiality and will not use that individual in any capacity unless they can demonstrate that there is no conflict of interest. 
• IQSR will not allocate a member of staff or subcontractor to an Audit where any past relationship has existed. Exceptionally and at the discretion of the Technical Manager or Directors an individual or subcontractor may be allocated to an Audit where a past relationship has existed but there has been no relationship for a minimum of 2 years. 

IQSR does not and will not offer any commission, (‘finders fees’ or other inducements) to any individual or company in respect of referrals of clients unless:

a The terms and conditions of any such referral are clearly established and can be demonstrated and it can also be demonstrated that the fee is for a referral and the fact that a commission has been paid will in no way affect the outcome of an audit.

b A risk assessment (to establish the potential for an unacceptable threat to impartiality) has been carried out on the process through which any such payment is made to an individual or organization (normally a consultant) requesting the commission for referrals.

c All such payments are documented, recorded, and traceable and accompanied by a purchase order and invoice.

IQSR does not offer specific training to any company in respect of implementing a particular standard for that company. Any training offered by Company is general in nature and available to all companies or individuals who wish to attend. 

IQSR will ensure that it is not linked or marketed in any way which links it with the activities of a management system consultancy and will take appropriate action should any such link be identified.

Auditors and others involved in the certification process are not and will not be put under any pressure and will not be influenced in any way to come to a particular conclusion regarding the result of an audit.

IQSR’s Impartiality Norms:

• No outsourcing of Auditors to Consultancy Organization.
• No Referral Fees to be paid to Consultancy Organization.
• Facts based communication to Clients/ Consultancy Organization.
• Adherence to all Accreditation and other Company Policies.
• IQSR shall not carry out any other conflicting services other than its core business of Certification.
• IQSR shall not employ any professional conflicting its ethical policies.
• IQSR shall not allow any of its Auditors to market the services and conduct the internal audits or other Audits for the same client.
• IQSR shall not allow any of its Auditors to carry out financial transactions with clients/ consultants.
• IQSR shall not carry out business with any consultant inducing pressures to compromise impartiality.
• All employees of Company shall disclose any situation impairing the business ethics.
• IQSR shall not allow any of the Auditors to carry out audits for the client at least for 2 years from the date of relinquishment from their services for the client.
• IQSR shall not allow any Auditor to compromise on the Audit timing as required as per the accreditation/ IQSR norms.
• IQSR shall not allow any Auditors to conduct the audit for the client for which it has not been approved for.
• IQSR shall maintain transparency with regard to all information.
• No Auditors shall divulge any confidential information of the client to any third party without written consent from the client and approval by the CEO.
• No Auditors shall carry any client information with them after the usage period. All client information shall be returned after usage.
• Utmost care/ verification to be carried out for granting the right scope of certification.
• Any unethical practice observed should be notified to the management at the earliest.
• IQSR shall not allow any of its Auditors to accept any gifts from client / consultant.
• IQSR shall not allow any Auditors to conduct audit for the organization where any of its family members/ close relatives are involved at a decision-making position.
• Disciplinary actions for non–adhering to impartiality policies shall be taken by the Management in consultation with Impartiality Committee.

To supplement in–house resource IQSR employs Associate (subcontract) Auditors and sometimes has working relationships with overseas business managers. At no stage does IQSR outsource its audits to consultancy organization, outsource its certification decisions, or link its marketing activities with consultancy. IQSR retains full control of all decision-making processes regarding granting, maintaining, renewing, extending, reducing, suspending or withdrawing certification. 

IQSR recognizes that the source of revenue for a certification body is the client paying for certification, and that this is a potential threat to impartiality. Therefore IQSR is a self-financed independent organization, with a number of controls to ensure that impartiality is retained. 

To obtain and maintain confidence, it is essential that IQSR's certification decisions are based on objective evidence of conformity or nonconformity, and that any decisions made are not influenced by other interests or by other parties. 

Certification decisions are made and signed for by a competent Scheme Manager who was not responsible for the Audit and was not a member of the Audit team IQSR recognizes that threats to impartiality include the following. 

• Self–interest threats arising from a person or body acting in their own interest. 
• Self–review threats arising from a person reviewing the work that they have conducted themselves. 
• Familiarity (or trust) threats arising from a person becoming too familiar with or too trusting of another, instead of seeking audit evidence. 
• Intimidation threats arising from a person having a perception of being coerced openly or secretively, such as a threat to be replaced or reported to a supervisor.

IQSR, its Top management, Managers, Staff and others involved in the Certification of Management Systems fully understand the importance of impartiality in undertaking its Certification Activities.

IQSR will therefore ensure that in its dealings with clients or potential clients, all employees or other personnel involved in Certification Activities are, and will remain, impartial. To ensure that impartiality is both maintained and can be demonstrated, IQSR has identified and risk assessed all relationships which may result in a conflict of interest or pose a threat to impartiality.