Appeal And Complaint

In the case of appeal:

1. The Chairperson of the Governing Advisory Council (GAC) will be responsible to nominate GAC Members to form an Appeal Committee. The Appeal Committee will be responsible to decide on the outcome of the appeal.

2. The Certification Manager will be responsible to inform the company of the outcome of the Appeal Panel’s decision.

Appeal procedure:

1. Appeals such as Termination, Suspension, Reduction of Scope & etc will be processed, concluded and decision communicated to relevant parties as efficiently as circumstances permit. The appeal shall be made in writing to the Managing Director. Upon receipt of the appeal, the Managing Director and / or Certification Manager will inform the company that CCI is investigating into the case and will report on the progress and outcome of the case.

2. The Appeals Committee being appointed must be in odd numbers and satisfy the following criteria :

• • Have not been involved in the certification / audit process.
• • Have not been involved in the decision making of the certification.

3. The appellant shall present his case before the Appeals Committee as part of the investigation/evaluation process.

4. The Appeals Committee will investigate into the appeal raised and decide on the outcome of the appeal. The committee will validate and investigate the appeal, and for deciding what correction & corrective action are to be taken in response to it, taking into account the results of previous similar appeals. The decision of the Appeal will be based on consensus and the committee’s decision will be final.

5. Upon completion of the investigation, the Appeals Committee will inform the Managing Director in writing of the decision taken. CCI will consider the decision of the Committee and will take any appropriate correction and corrective action as required.

6. The Certification Manager or appointed person not previously involved in the subject of appeal will write officially to the company concerned informing them of the Appeals Committee‘s decision. The decision of the Appeal Committee and the official letter to the company will be filed in the “Complaint / Appeal/Dispute” file.

7. The Managing Director and / or Certification Manager are responsible to maintain an Appeal Log (Form No. : CCI – QP – 15 – 1A) to keep track on the status of appeals received. Submission, investigation and decision on appeals shall not result in any discriminatory actions against the appellant.

8. Timeframe from receipt of appeal to final decision shall be made as soon as possible or maximum 1 month. Notification to appellant shall be made within 14 working days after the final decision has been made.

Remark: 2 weeks for forming the appeal committee, 2 weeks for making decision and 2 weeks for notifying to appellant. (Total is 6 weeks)

In the case of complaint:

The Managing Director and / or Certification Manager will be responsible to nominate an independent staff to investigate into any complaint and decide on the necessary corrective action.

Complaint procedure:
a. Complaint against the CCl’s client

• • Any official complaint against CCI’s client, it will be directed to the Managing Director and / or Certification Manager. Upon receipt of the complaint in writing, the Managing Director and / or Certification Manager shall confirm whether the complaints relates to certification activities that CCI is responsible for and, if so, shall deal with it. CCI will subsequently inform the company that it is investigating into the case. It shall consider the effectiveness of the certified management system.
  
  
• • The Short Notice Audit/Special Audit may require for examining the complaint and the audit report will be the outcome of the case. Acknowledgement of the receipt of the complaint shall be provided to the complainant, together with the report on the progress.
  
  
• • Timeframe from receipt of complaint to final decision shall be made within 3 months and notification to complaint shall be within 1 month after the final decision has been made.
  
  
• • Confidentiality, as it relates to the complainant and to the subject of the complaint shall be maintained.
  
  

b. Complaint against the CCl
1. Upon received any complaint against the CCI, the Managing Director and / or Certification Manager shall set up complaint committee.

2. The complaint committee will investigate the complaint to identify :

• • If any aspect of the CCI has failed and if so, identify corrective action to prevent recurrence.
  
  
• • If there are any shortcomings with the Management Systems and / or processes of our client. If this is the case, the client will be required to put in place a suitable corrective action process. CCI may need to take additional action as a result of identified system failings.
  
  

3. Upon completion of the investigation, the relevant staff will recommend the correction and corrective action that need to be taken where necessary. Then, the relevant staff is to implement appropriate correction and corrective action and the Managing Director and / or Certification Manager to assess the effectiveness of the corrective action taken. The outcome of the complaint committee is to be documented in the Corrective Action & Preventive Action (CAPA) form (Form No. : CCI – QP – 15 – 2A)