What does a pre-transfer review of an ISO certificate check?

A pre-transfer review is the check an accepting certification body completes before it issues its own certificate. It is a review of the certification, usually from the documents. A visit is added when the documents are not enough to confirm that the certificate is valid.

What is on the checklist?

• The activities on the certificate fall inside the accreditation of the body that would issue the new one.
• The reason for the transfer is known. It can be ordinary. It has to be the real one.
• The sites that want to move hold a certificate that is current and accredited, and that is neither suspended nor facing suspension.
• The latest certification or recertification report, and the latest surveillance report, are available, and the programme of visits was followed.
• Outstanding nonconformities have a status. Findings that block a certificate are closed, or ready to close on evidence.
• Complaints about the certified system, and any relevant enforcement, have been disclosed.
• The remaining audit programme can be seen, so the next surveillance has a date and a purpose.

If the reports are missing, or surveillance was skipped when the programme required it, the review stops being a transfer. The company is quoted as a new client. That fork is in transfer or start over.

When is there a visit?

A visit happens when the paper leaves a question only the operation can answer. A report that does not match the scope, a major finding closed with a promise and no record, or a site list the reports never quite cover, are typical reasons. The visit confirms the certification. It is planned in the offer, before you have cancelled the old certificate.

What to send so the review can stay on the documents is in documents for a transfer. How open findings are judged is in open nonconformities.

Who does this work?

IAF Consultancy carries out the review and any visit. The written offer, sent after the application, states the scope, the timing, and the price of that work. SMG makes the certification decision and issues the certificate under IAS accreditation MSCB-153. The certificate your customers check is that one.

The expiry date the review is aiming to carry forward is described in keeping the same expiry date.