Certification Regulations

Amtivo (USA) Incorporated (“Amtivo”) is a certification body accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board (“ANAB”) to provide the audit and certification of Client’s management systems to relevant standards. These Certification Regulations set out the respective obligations of Amtivo and Client to each other in relation to all activities that form part of the certification process (“Certification Activities”) carried out by, or on behalf of, Amtivo.

1. Amtivo shall perform the Certification Activities using reasonable care and skill. Where Amtivo has subcontracted aspects of the Certification Activities to a third party, Amtivo shall remain legally responsible for the Certification Activities.
2. Client shall fully cooperate in relation to arranging any audits required by the Certification Activities, including making provision for examining documentation and providing access to all processes and areas, records and personnel.
3. The client shall nominate a management representative as the point of contact with Amtivo.
4. The Client shall agree to the presence of an ANAB, scheme owner and/or Amtivo observer should ANAB, scheme owner and/or Amtivo wish to assess the provision of the Certification Activities.
5. Confirmation that the Client meets the relevant standard (“Certification”) shall only be issued once Amtivo determines, at its sole discretion, that the requirements of Certification have been met. Amtivo shall be solely responsible for granting, refusing, maintaining of certification, expanding or reducing the scope of certification, renewing, suspending or restoring, or withdrawing of certification.
6. Following Certification, the Client may use and display certification badges and/or make reference to their certification status subject to the restrictions set out by Amtivo in its guidelines, a copy of which is available at https://amtivo.com/us/certification-badge-guidelines/.
7. In order to maintain Certification for the remainder of the certification cycle, the Client acknowledges that further annual audits will need to be undertaken by an accredited certification body. More information on the Certification cycle can be found at https://amtivo.com/us/resources/guides-downloads/the-three-year-certification-process/.
8. Client shall notify Amtivo, without delay, of matters which may affect the capability of Client’s management system to continue to fulfil the requirements of Certification. These matters include but are not limited to:-
   • the legal, commercial, or organisational status, or ownership of the organisation;
   • additional sites or offices;
   • additional staffing levels;
   • change of certificate scope;
   • any other changes to the management system and processes;
   • occurrence of a serious incident or breach of regulation necessitating the involvement of the competent regulatory authority (in the event of a serious incident and the involvement of the competent authority, a special audit may be necessary, and the outcome of the investigation recorded)

Where it can be demonstrated that they system seriously failed to meet the certification requirements, this shall provide grounds for Amtivo to decide on action to be taken – up to and including suspension or withdrawal of certification.

9. For Clients seeking certification to e-Steward standards, Client must:
   • permit unannounced audits, including special surveillance audits by Amtivo and/or the e-Stewards scheme owner;
   • permit Amtivo to share any audit or certification related information with the e-Stewards scheme owner during or after the contract period;
   • permit the e-Stewards scheme owner to witness any audit activity;
   • execute a License Agreement with the e-Stewards scheme owner prior to Certification;
   • ensure that all recycling facilities which process, manage or control electronic equipment and are owned or controlled by Client are included in the certification agreement within 18 months of the certification of the initial facility for the specific country;
   • ensure that all ancillary sites which are owned or controlled by Client are included and managed appropriately in the scope of the management system; and
   • where the Client is seeking certification to multiple integrated standards, agree the degree of the level of integration of management system for the application of IAF MD 11.
10. For Clients seeking certification to AQMS standards, Client must:
    • comply with the duties, responsibilities, and requirements of the ICOP scheme as defined in the 9104-series standards AQMS processes;
    • allow Amtivo to provide Tier 1 data (i.e., information on the issued AQMS standard certificate – public domain) and Tier 2 data (e.g., information and results of audits, assessments, nonconformances, corrective action, scoring, and suspensions- private domain) to the OASIS database;
    • provide access to the Tier 2 data in the OASIS database to their aviation, space, and defense customers and authorities, upon request, unless justification can be provided (e.g., competition, confidentiality, conflict of interest);
    • provide immediate notification to their aviation, space, and defense customers Iin the event of losing their AQMS standard certification;
    • identify an OASIS administrator and be responsible for notifying Amtivo of significant changes within the organization (e.g., changes related to address, ownership, key management, number of employees, scope of operations, customer contract requirements) that may affect the scope of the Client’s certification. Any certification modification, including but not limited to site additions, site deletions, site moves or scope changes, shall be subject to a fee raised by the IAQG which shall be paid by the Client;
    • agree that accreditation bodies, OP assessors, customer representatives, and regulatory authorities may accompany an Amtivo audit for the purpose of oversight witness or the confirmation of the effectiveness of Amtivo’s audit process;
    • must provide copies of the audit report and associated documents/records to their customers and potential customers, upon request, unless justification can be provided (e.g., competitor confidentiality, conflict of interest). Client may provide access to this data through the OASIS database or by providing the audit report directly to the customer.

Failure of Client to abide by these expectations shall be cause for withdrawal from the ICOP scheme and the OASIS database listings.

11. For Clients seeking certification as a GWO Training Provider, Client must comply with the current version of the Global Wind Organisation Requirements for Certification.
12. For Clients seeking certification to the IATF 16949 standard, Client must:
    • notify Amtivo in writing without, in addition to the matters set out in clause 8, of imminent changes that may affect the capability of Client’s quality management system to fulfil the requirements of the IATF 16949 certification, including, but not limited to, changes relating to:
      1. legal status;
      2. ownership status (e.g. mergers, acquisitions, alliances, joint ventures, etc.);
      3. management structure (e.g. top management, key decision-making staff, etc.);
      4. contact address or location;
      5. relocation of the manufacturing process(es) or support activities;
      6. closure or relocation of a manufacturing site, extended manufacturing site, or a standalones remote support location;
      7. scope of operations under the quality management system, including any new locations and/or support relationships to be covered in the certification scope;
      8. outsourcing of quality management system processes to other organizations;
      9. customer dissatisfaction scenarios that require certification body notification as described in IATF OEM customer-specific requirements (e.g. special status conditions, etc.); and
      10. a signed contract with another IATF-recognised certification body.

Amtivo shall take appropriate actions based on the changes communicated by Client, including special audits.

• provide any information related to previous and/or existing certification to IATF 16949 before contract signature;
• operate in conformance with its own registered IATF 16949 quality management system and allow Amtivo to conduct on-site follow-up audits if verification of corrective actions is needed;
• not use the IATF logo except in displaying the certificate granted by Amtivo. The certificate may be duplicated for marketing and advertising purposes. Any other use by the Client of the IATF logo is prohibited;
• maintain a complaint system for all customer complaints and relevant agencies, including a system for correcting those complaints;
• provide Amtivo with the following documents for the planning of all audits:
  1. quality management system documentation, including evidence about conformity to IATF 16949 requirements and showing linkages and interfaces to any remote support functions and/or outsourced processes;
  2. procedures;
  3. description of your processes, their sequence, and the interactions and how they are monitored and measured;
  4. customer and internal performance data since the previous audit;
  5. customer satisfaction and complaint summary since the previous audit, including a copy of the latest customer reports and/or scorecards;
  6. identification of any customer special status condition since the previous audit;
  7. notification of any new customers since the previous audit;
  8. results of internal audits and management review;
  9. list of qualified internal auditors and the criteria for qualification;
  10. list of automotive customers and their customer-specific requirements if applicable; and
  11. any other information requested by the IATF 16949 auditors,

failure to provide the above information may initiate the decertification process;     

• agree to the presence of an IATF witness auditor or Amtivo internal witness auditors wish to assess the provision of the Certification Activities by Amtivo;
• agree to the presence of IATF representatives or their delegates to be observers on an audit (these may include IATF OEMs or Oversight Office Representatives). These observers shall be permitted to view the entire audit process unless the Client requests them to not be privy to competitive or confidential customer data;
• agree to any request by Amtivo to provide the final audit and nonconformity report to the IATF;
• not have quality management system-related consultants physically present at the site(s) during the audit or participate in any way, either directly or indirectly. The Client’s failure to meet this requirement shall result in audit termination;
• must notify Amtivo of an intention to transfer in the event that a legal contract is signed with another certification body. Client and Amtivo shall cooperate to resolve any open issues relating to its transfer;
• notify Amtivo within five working days of receipt of customer special status conditions;
• agrees to conduct special audits as required and defined in the IATF Rules section 7.2. Refusal to allow a special audit will result in certificate withdrawal. If a special audit is conducted to close 100% resolved non-conformances all evidence of implementation shall be submitted to the auditor no later than 30 days prior to the audit;   
• return their IATF certificate and notify all customers in writing if Amtivo is required to withdraw their IATF 16949 certificate. Amtivo shall receive copies of all such customer notifications; and
• pay additional fees in the following circumstances:
  1. in the event that an on-site follow-up (unscheduled) audit is required to verify corrective actions of nonconformances issued, fees will be charged at the daily applicable auditor rate plus expenses;
  2. in the event a special audit is required to review a response to a customer performance complaint as part of the IAOB Red Supplier Program, the fees and expenses associated with the witness audit from the IAOB will be billed at cost;
  3. in the event additional time must be added to a scheduled surveillance audit for verification of nonconformances, fees will be charged at the daily applicable auditor rate plus expenses. at a minimum of 0.5 hour to 1.0 hour will be added for each non-conformance,
  4. in the event a special audit is required for any reason, there will be a minimum charge of 1.0 day;
  5. offsite time will be added for all audits;
  6. for all transfer audits additional non-conformance verification time will be added in the event there were non-conformances issued at the last audit from the previous certification body. This will be billed at the daily applicable rate;
  7. if required pre-planning is not provided 30 days prior to the scheduled start of the audit, there will be a 0.5 audit day charge at your daily rate added to the invoice; and
  8. if management review records cannot be provided during audit planning due to confidentiality concerns, a minimum of 2 hours will be added to the audit for this review. This will be billed at the daily applicable rate.

13. For Clients seeking certification to the IATF 16949 standard, Amtivo shall:
    • inform Client of any IATF observers that will be joining an audit;
    • notify Client within ten calendar days of any changes to Amtivo’s ownership status or loss of IATF recognition; and
    • comply with all relevant data protection laws and provide sufficient transparency regarding the use of relevant personally identifiable information.
14. Amtivo, ANAB and, where relevant, the scheme owner, shall have the right to display the Client’s certification and current audit status in the public domain for inspection.
15. Client shall in connection with its activities and the operation of its business comply with fair and equitable business practice, namely all relevant laws, regulations, and codes in relation to:

• anti-bribery and anti-corruption;
• anti-slavery and human trafficking;
• equality, diversity, human rights and good relations; and
• international sanctions issued by the USA or the United Nations.

16. As used in these Regulations, “Confidential Information” shall mean any oral or written proprietary information that Amtivo may acquire from Client pursuant to these Regulations or information as to Client’s business provided, however, that Confidential Information shall not include any information which:
    • is or hereafter becomes generally known to the public but not as a result of unpermitted disclosure;
    • was available to Amtivo on a non-confidential basis prior to the time of its disclosure by the disclosing party; or
    • is disclosed to Amtivo by an independent third party with a right to make such disclosure.
17. Unless required by law or by a judicial, governmental, or other regulatory body, Amtivo shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that its personnel, agents and sub-contractors do not use Confidential Information other than for the purpose of providing Certification Activities nor disclose Client’s Confidential Information to any person or entity without the prior written approval of Client except as expressly provided for in these Regulations.
18. In the event that that there is a conflict between the terms of these Certification Regulations and the terms of an agreement into which they are incorporated, the terms of these Certification Regulations shall prevail.
19. No waiver of any of the provisions of these Certification Regulations shall be deemed, or will constitute, a waiver of any other provision, whether or not similar, nor shall any waiver constitute a continuing waiver. No waiver shall be binding unless executed in writing by the party making the waiver.
20. If any provision of these Certification Regulations is found by any court or other authority of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision shall, to the extent required, be deemed not to form part of these Certification Regulations, and the validity and enforceability of the other provisions of these Certification Regulations shall not be affected.
21. Amtivo may at any time may assign, transfer or otherwise deal with the whole or any part of its rights under these Certification Regulations. The client may not assign, transfer or otherwise deal with the whole or any part of its rights under these Certification Regulations.
22. Amtivo may amend these Certification Regulations from time to time and shall notify Client in writing of all such amendments.
23. These Certification Regulations are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado and any disputes shall be heard in the Colorado courts.