Impartiality Policy

TUV Austria Bureau of Inspection & Certification (Pvt.) Ltd. is the legal entity responsible for certification activities under various schemes.

Our Top Management, managers, and staff fully understand the critical importance of impartiality in all certification activities. We are committed to ensuring that in all dealings with clients or potential clients, our personnel remain impartial and free from any commercial, financial, or other pressures that could compromise impartiality. This commitment is reinforced in our contracts and appointment letters.

The following principles govern our approach:

Commitment from Top Management: TUV Austria BIC’s top management is committed to maintaining impartiality in all certification processes.
Personnel Conduct: All personnel (internal, external, or committee members) involved in certification activities must act impartially at all times.
Independent Decision-Making: Certificates are issued only after review by an independent and impartial decision committee, ensuring no single interest predominates.
Prohibition of Certification to Other CBs: We do not certify another certification body for its management system certification activities.
No Consultancy or Internal Audits: TUV Austria BIC neither offers nor has ever offered management system consultancy or internal audit services to companies or individuals.
No Financial Interests in Related Services: We do not own or have any financial or other interest in companies offering certification, consultancy, or internal audit services.
No Outsourced Audits to Consultants: We do not outsource audits to management system consultancy organizations, as this poses an unacceptable threat to impartiality.

Scope Restrictions

TUV Austria BIC and any part of the same legal entity under its control shall not:

Be the designer, manufacturer, installer, distributor, or maintainer of the certified product.
Be the designer, implementer, operator, or maintainer of the certified process.
Be the designer, implementer, provider, or maintainer of the certified service.

Risk Identification and Assessment

All risks to impartiality are identified on an ongoing basis through personnel records (e.g., experience letters).
Any proposed relationship undergoes a risk assessment by the Impartiality Committee before formalization.
Existing relationships with companies or individuals are regularly assessed to ensure no impact on impartiality.

Conflict of Interest Declaration

All personnel, whether employees or contractors, must declare current and past relationships with companies that may present a conflict of interest.
Individuals will not be assigned to audits, reviews, or certification decisions where a conflict exists, unless there has been no relationship for at least two years and the Impartiality Committee approves.

Safeguarding Impartiality

Activities of related legal entities will not compromise impartiality.
Appropriate legal action will be taken against any threats to impartiality arising from external activities.
Annual reviews will be conducted to ensure all personnel remain impartial in their audit responsibilities.

CEO
TUV Austria Bureau of Inspection & Certification (Pvt.) Ltd.