uropean ccreditation of ertification

EAC/G4

Guidelines
on the
Application
of
EN 45013

Rev. 01
09-1995

EAC Secretariat : Ms K Wenell, SWEDAC, P O Box 878, SE-501 15 BORÅS, SWEDEN, Telephone + 46 33 17 77 45, Telefax + 46 33 10 13 92
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EAC GUIDELINES ON THE APPLICATION OF EN 45013

EUROPEAN STANDARD FOR BODIES OPERATING CERTIFICATION OF PERSONNEL

Introduction

EN 45013 sets out criteria for bodies operating certification of personnel. If such bodies are
to be accredited as complying with the standard some guidance to that standard is
necessary. These guidelines provide it. The aim is to enable accreditation bodies to
harmonise the application of the standards against which they are bound to assess
certification bodies. This is an important step towards mutual recognition of accreditation. It is
hoped that the guidelines will also be useful to certification bodies themselves and to those
whose decisions are guided by their certificates.

For convenience, the text of the standard is first printed in bold; guidelines where they are
offered are inset.

What follows is written as guidance to the standard and no individual statement is

mandatory. It would, however, be the responsibility of a certification body claiming
compliance with the standard to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the accreditation body that
is had met the relevant Clause of EN 45013 in some equivalent way.

Note: Similar EAC guidance is published in connection with accreditation of bodies

certificating suppliers quality systems (which are required to comply with EN 45012) and
bodies certificating products (bodies which comply with EN 45011)

EAC MLA
The EAC members signatories of a MLA (Multilateral agreement) have agreed on a common
application of the standards EN 45011, EN 45012, EN 45013, as described in the guidelines.
The signed MLA agreement says in art. 1.1.3, (i) :
"The accreditation system in operation ensures that all accredited certification bodies comply
in full with the relevant European standards, i.e. one or more of EN 45011,-12,-13 as
appropriate as interpreted by EAC guidelines."

EAC (European Accreditation of Certification) draws together accreditation bodies in Europe with the aim of creating a single European
accreditation system covering products, quality systems and personnel.

For further information and copies of this document, please get in touch with any of the bodies participating in the work of EAC.
.
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CLAUSES OF EN 45013

Clause 1 OBJECT AND FIELD OF APPLICATION

This European Standard specifies general criteria that a certification body operating
certification of personnel shall follow if it is to be recognised at a national or European
level as competent and reliable in the operation of a system of certification personnel,
irrespective of the sector involved.

It is intended for the use of bodies concerned with recognizing the competence of
certification bodies.

This set of criteria may have to be supplemented when applied to a particular sector.

Clause 2 DEFINITIONS

For the purpose of this European Standard the following definitions contained in
ISO/IEC Guide 2, edition 1986, "General terms and their definitions concerning
standardisation and related activities" are applicable:

2.1 Certification of Conformity:

Action by a third party, demonstrating that adequate confidence is provided that

a duly identified product, process or service is in conformity with a specific
standard or other normative document.

2.2 Certification System:

System that has its own rules of procedure and management for carrying out
certification and conformity.

2.3 Certification Body:

Body that conducts certification of conformity.

2.4 Inspection Body (for Certification):

Body that performs inspection services on behalf of a Certification Body.

2.5 Certificate of Competence:

Document issued under the rules of a certification system, indicating that
adequate confidence is provided that the named person is competent in
performing specific services.

EAC Guidance

1 The accreditation of a certification body will be expressed in terms of the categories of

personnel and the standards or normative documents which they can be certificated
as competent to perform.
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2 Other limitations may apply, for example restriction to certain offices of the certification
body or restriction to certain industrial sectors in which the specific services are to be
offered.

3 The assessment and certificate should give confidence to all concerned that the
person named in it is competent to undertake specified tasks or has some other
specified competence. Reference should be made to documents in which the
statement of this competence is given. They could be standards, other normative
documents or statements issued by appropriate bodies indicating specific competence
to which the certificate attests.

4 The format of the certificate is determined by the certification body. The certificate
shall identify the person in respect of whom it is issued and the competence of which it
is evidence. This should be described by reference to documents as described above
and should indicate where these documents can be found together with sufficient
references to identify them. The certificate of competence should have an issue date
and fixed period of validity or expiry date. It should include the name of the
certification body, and of the accreditation body if it is within the scope of
accreditation, in which case the fact should be recorded.

5 The basis of assessment should be stated e.g. written examination, practical test,
involvement in the field over a period etc or any combination of such.

6 The requirements which the certificated person has met may be so precisely
described that two certification bodies acting independently could be expected to
reach the same objective conclusion as to whether or not a person complies with
them. This may not always be possible. Where it is not the case, the stated
requirements cannot be used as a basis for certification without further interpretation.
This interpretation should be set out and published by the certification body, preferably
in agreement with other bodies operating in the same field and taking account of the
views of all interests significantly concerned in the type of personnel certification in
question. The knowledge, training and experience required of examiners and
assessors may be covered in such interpretations. Accredited certification bodies
should take steps to harmonise their standards of assessment, their practices and
their interpretive documents and draw them to the attention of other bodies. It may be
desirable for the interpretive clauses to be incorporated in the base document.

2.6 Applicant (for Certification):

Person that seeks to obtain a certificate of competence from a certification
body.

Clause 3 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

All persons seeking to be certified shall have access to the services of the
Certification Body. There shall not be undue financial or other conditions. However,
the certification body may make it conditional for certification of the personnel that the
certificated persons are regularly employed in the activities for which they have been
certificated, and that their training is kept up to date, The procedures under which the
body operates shall be administered in a non-discriminatory manner.
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EAC Guidance

1 Access to personnel certification services should not be restricted on the grounds,

inter alia, that the applicant does not apply for other services or is not a member of a
particular group or association or trained by a particular organisation or one of a
limited number of organisations. The requirements may include attendance at an
approved course in which case such approval is not to be unreasonably withheld.

2 Certification of a person's competence in relation to documented requirements cannot

be denied on the grounds that the person does not comply with matters not covered
by that document.

3 When the validity of a certificate depends on one or more conditions being fulfilled by
the holder those conditions shall be indicated on the certificate.

Clause 4 ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE

The Certification body shall be impartial and shall have:

a) a structure which requires the choosing of members of its governing board

from among those interests involved in the process of certification without any
single interest predominating. A structure that safeguards impartiality, and
enables participation from all parties concerned, regarding the content and the
functioning of a certification system will be deemed to satisfy this criterion;

b) permanent personnel under the senior executive responsible to the governing

board to carry out the day-to-day operations in such a way as to be free from
control by those who have direct commercial interest in the products or
services concerned.

EAC Guidance

General
1 The certification activity should be performed by an identified legal entity whose other
activities and interests do not conflict with the impartiality of certification.
Documentation on the structure of the legal entity should exist, setting out the
elements of the organization that have a role in the setting and implementing of the
body's goals and policies and what powers each element possesses. The
documentation should show how individuals involved are chosen and appointed.

2 If the certification activities are carried out by a legal entity which is part of a larger
organization, the links with other parts of the larger organization should be clearly laid
down.

3 Relevant information on activities performed by the other parts of the organization

should be given by the certification body. If the body, or any other part of the
organisation of which it forms part, educates or trains people whose competence may
subsequently be certificated by the body, clause 9 below becomes relevant.

4 The information supplied to the accreditation body should be kept up to date.

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5 EN 45013 does not place requirements on the nationality of the members of a

certification body's governing board or on the places where it meets.

6 A certification body should be an identified legal entity. Independence requires it to

have full and clearly separate authority in respect of certification.

Impartiality
7 The body undertaking certification should not engage in activities which could
compromise its impartiality. It should not make offers of employment to candidates for
certification or indicate that it has any such intention after the application has been
made known until such time as it has been determined.

8 All the permanent personnel mentioned in Clause 4.b are not necessarily full-time
personnel but their other employment should not be such as to compromise their
impartiality.

9 A certification body shall not certificate a person it employs unless no appropriate

accredited third party exists in its country or is available in practice to undertake the
certification. Where a body certificates people it has trained or whom it employs or
with whom it has any other connection, particular care shall be taken to ensure that
such connection does not influence assessment or certification of such personnel.
Where such cases could arise a certification body shall demonstrate to the
accreditation body the procedures it has adopted in order to maintain impartiality in
such circumstances. These shall include maintaining the same standards of
publication or confidentiality towards all candidates in respect of matters such as the
content of examination papers and the nature of tests and test pieces. The
certification body should use at least some examiners independent of its own
organisation in such cases and shall arrange for audit of the examining process
independently of the certification body to ensure impartiality of the assessment and
the uniformity of the standards applied to all candidates.
A certification body which has, exceptionally, certificated its own employees should
dicontinue to offer such certification (to its own employees) when the services of an
independent accredited certification body become available covering certification to
the standard in question. Existing certificates may continue their validity with
accredited status for at least one year after the independent accredited certification
services become available. After one year each certificate isssued to an employee
shall cease to have any accredited validity when surveillance of the person to whom it
refers becomes due.

10 Education, training and accredited certification may be marketed together provided

that no impression can be drawn that educational training provided by a particular
route has any bearing on subsequent certification of competence.

11 Nothing should be said or indicated by a certification body that would suggest that
certification would be simpler, easier or less expensive if any specified education or
training services were used.

12 An assessor should not advise or give training or consultancy as part of an

assessment.

13 The spirit and intention of these interpretations is clear, and it is the duty of the
certification body to ensure that none of its clients is given any impression that the use
of both services, certification and education/training, would bring any business
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advantages to the client so that the certification remains, and is seen to remain,
impartial.

Structure
14 The Governing Board members shall be chosen without any single interest
predominating as required by the first sentence of clause 4(a) of EN 45013 or, as an
alternative, a structure satisfying the second sentence is required, that is to say, a
structure which enables participation from all parties concerned regarding the content
and functioning of a certification system.

15 If an interest nevertheless predominates on the Governing Board, an Advisory Board

could be set up, itself meeting the requirements of sentence 1 of clause 4(a) of EN
45013.

16 In this case the Governing Board should be accountable to the Advisory Board for all
decisions regarding, and actions in respect of, certification including the selection of
persons to manage the certification activity and the contents of the body's Control
Manual and procedures.The certification body should provide all necessary
information to the Advisory Board to enable it to ensure proper impartial certification.

17 If the advice of the Advisory Board is not respected in any matter by the Governing
Board the Advisory Board should take appropriate measures and may inform the
accrediting body.

18 The structure of the Advisory Board should be documented. It should ensure that
there is no predominant interest on it. The Advisory Board should not engage in, nor
be responsible for, activities which could call its impartiality into question, nor should
any sub-group of its members if that sub-group could exercise a predominant
influence. The method of appointing a member of the Advisory Board shall be
specified in its documented structure.

19 Such a structure could be regarded as meeting the requirements of clause 4(a) by

virtue of its second sentence. Some person or persons need to be identified as the
Governing Board to meet the requirements of clause 5 but provided this body is
accountable, as described above, to an Advisory Board, clause 4(a) may be satisfied.

Clause 5 TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE GOVERNING BOARD

The governing board shall be responsible for performance of certification as defined

by this standard. Inter alia, its functions shall cover:

a) the formulation of policy matters relating to the operation of the Certification

Body;
b) an overview of the implementation of its policies;
c) an overview of the finances of the Certification Body;
d) the setting up of committees as required, to which defined activities are
delegated.
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EAC Guidances

The governing board, which may go by a different name, refers to the group responsible for
certification. It must have the status and the independence which enable it to carry this
responsibility impartially. Its exercise of this responsibility may be subject to review by an
advisory board as indicated in the guidance to Clause 4. It may delegate authority to an
individual. However, decisions made by the governing board in the exercise of its
responsibility for certification cannot otherwise be subject to review by a body over which it
has no control. As part of its responsibility the governing board should be in a position to
decide who is to be the senior executive (see Clause 4.b above).

Clause 6 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

The Certification Body shall have and make available on request:

a) an organisation chart showing clearly the responsibility and reporting structure

of the organisation in particular the relationship between the assessment and
certification functions;

b) a description of the means by which the organisation obtains financial support;

c) a documented statement of its certification systems including its rules and

procedures for granting certification;

d) documentation clearly identifying its legal status.

EAC Guidance

1 Sub-clause a) above implies a distinction between examination and certification

(deciding whether or not to grant a certificate). This distinction should be observed and
referred to in the quality manual.

2 Certification requires the body to judge if sufficient information is available to assess

whether the competence of a person complies with the given requirements. It should
judge if each piece of available information (examination report, test report, inspection
report or other document) is issued by a competent body or person, in accordance
with the methods accepted by the certification body and is relevant in any other
aspects. The report of any person who has marked an examination paper or
evaluated theoretical or practical tests should be submitted to the certification body
which will issue any certificate.

3 The description of the means by which the certification body obtains financial support
should be sufficient to show whether or not it can retain its impartiality.

Clause 7 CERTIFICATION PERSONNEL

The personnel of the Certification Body shall be competent for the functions they
undertake.
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Information on the relevant qualifications, training and experience of each member of

its personnel shall be maintained by the Certification Body. Records of training and
experience shall be kept up-to-date.

Personnel shall have available to them clear documented instructions pertaining to

their duties and responsibilities. These instructions shall be maintained up-to-date.

When work is subcontracted to an external body, the Certification Body shall ensure
that the personnel of the body involved with the sub-contracted work shall meet the
applicable requirements of this standard.

EAC Guidance

1 The permanent personnel mentioned in Clause 4.b should be competent:

- to select, control and verify the competence of examination centres, examining

bodies, other subcontractors and the personnel they employ ;
- to brief the examination, testing and inspection personnel and arrange necessary
training for them;
- to decide on the issue or withdrawal of certificates;
- to set up and operate an appeals procedure, if relevant;
- to understand the standard or other normative document to which they are offering
certification.

2 Personnel employed by the certification body should be able to demonstrate to the

accreditation body that by virtue of training, education, experience or a combination of
these they are competent to undertake the tasks of examination and assessment
which they are given to do. The accreditation body shall have regard to their technical
competence in the areas in which they are examining as well as their capability and
skills in the matter of examining, testing and appraising candidates. The certification
body's procedures for entrusting staff with such work should be such as to ensure
that all concerned will have full confidence in the certificates which may be issued as a
result of their work.

3 In conducting its audits of a certification body the accreditation body should be free to
decide which personnel it wishes to see in action. Such personnel should however be
selected only from those which the certification body had declared competent in
respect of a particular function.

Clause 8 DOCUMENTATION AND CHANGE CONTROL

The Certification Body shall maintain a system for the control of all documentation
relating to the certification system and shall ensure that:

a) the current issues of the appropriate documentation are available at all relevant
locations;

b) all changes of documents or amendments to documents are covered by the

correct authorization and processed in a manner which will ensure direct and
speedy action at the effective point;
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c) superseded documents are removed from use throughout the organization and
its agencies;

d) certificated persons and other users of its certification schemes are notified of
changes. This may be accomplished by direct mailing or by issue of a periodic
publication.

Clause 9 RECORDS

The Certification Body shall maintain a record system to suit its particular
circumstances and to comply with any existing regulations. The records shall
demonstrate the way in which each certification procedure was applied. All records
shall be safely stored for an adequate period, held secure and in confidence to the
client, unless otherwise required by law.

NOTE
The question of the length of time for retention of records requires specific attention
in the light of legal circumstances and recognition arrangements.

Clause 10 CERTIFICATION AND SURVEILLANCE PROCEDURES

10.1 The Certification Body shall have the required facilities and documented
procedures to enable the certification of personnel to be carried out in
accordance with the criteria relevant to the activities involved.

10.2 The Certification Body shall maintain regular surveillance of the certificated
personnel

EAC Guidance

1 The certification body should have appropriate established procedures for assessing
each category of personnel against each relevant standard or normative document.
These procedures (including checklists and interpretations) shall give assurance that
certification personnel, however competent as individuals, correctly follow the steps
they should take.

2 Surveillance undertaken by the certification body should give assurance that its
certificated persons continue to satisfy the standard or other normative document to
which they are certificated.

3 The certification body shall have the required facilities and procedures to enable it to
achieve this. Surveillance of a certificated person should be undertaken as specified in
the relevant standard or normative document. If it is not specified, surveillance should
be undertaken in accordance with accepted good professional practice or as required
by the accreditation body after consultation with parties involved. Surveillance may
comprise only an examination of documentation if this provides sufficient evidence
that the certificated person continues to satisfy the requirements referred to in the
certificates.
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4 A reference or references may be taken into account in which case:

- The referee's own qualifications in the relevant area should be set down and should
be such as to make him a competent person to give a reference. The procedures
of a certification body should ensure that he is competent before his reference is
relied on.

- The reference should set out the basis on which he considers himself in a position
to give a reference as to the technical competence of the person he is writing about
i.e. how did he get the information on which his statements are based?

- The reference should declare his independence from the person about whom he is
writing. He should not, for example, act as a referee for someone who has already
acted as a referee for him.

- The referee should set down the employment or any other business or personal
relationship between himself and the person about whom he is writing or indicate
that there is no such relationship.

- The report should state not simply what the candidate has done but the extent to
which, by doing it, he has demonstrated his professional competence.

5 Surveillance of personnel may also take into account courses which the certificated
person has attended, work experience or other steps he has taken to maintain
professional knowledge up-to-date. Such information is unlikely to be sifficient in
itself.

6 The certification body in cases of doubt will interview the certificated person.

7 Persons who had not worked in the professional field in question for three years
unless otherwise specified in the relevant standard, could expect to have to undergo
initial assessment again, that is to say they would have to give evidence that they had
started working again in the discipline concerned and had further experience over a
sufficiently long period to make up for the gap.

8 Certification bodies should have clear procedures laying down the circumstances and
conditions in which certificates will be withdrawn if competence is not established
during surveillance.

Clause 11 CERTIFICATION AND SURVEILLANCE FACILITIES REQUIRED

11.1 The Certification Body shall have the required facilities in terms of certification
personnel expertise and equipment to undertake the certification of applicant
persons and to ensure the continuing compliance of certificated persons with
its published rules and procedures . This does not precludes the use of external
resources when necessary.

11.2 If assessment or surveillance is carried out on behalf of the Certification Body

by an external body , the Certification Body shall ensure that this body
conforms to the requirements of 11.1. A properly documented agreement
covering the arrangements including confidentiality shall be drawn up.
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EAC Guidance

1 This clause requires the certification body to have required facilities to perform
certification across the whole of its accredited scope.

2 The certification body should have effective control of the entire system of certification
including those matters subcontracted.

3 A list of examination centres and other subcontractors and the functions of each
should be kept by the certification body showing as far as possible those which are
required for each certification scheme.

4 If any of the examination,testing or inspection activities is subcontracted the

certification body should have its own documented procedures for the assessment
and surveillance of the subcontractor.

5 For any testing or inspection facilities documentary evidence should be provided to

demonstrate that the equipment used for examinations is in efficient working order
with calibration checked as necessary to enable objective appraisal of a candidate's
performance of a test.

6 If the sub-contractor is a test laboratory or certification body accredited by a member

of the WELAC or EAC multilateral agreements its competence in respect of matters
within its accredited scope should be accepted but the certification body must verify
that these matters are within its scope of accreditation.

7 The certification body should keep a record of any complaints it receives about
persons it has certificated.

Clause 12 QUALITY MANUAL

The Certification Body shall have a Quality Manual and documented procedures
setting out the way in which it complies with the criteria. The information supplied
shall include at least:

a) a quality policy statement;

b) brief description of the legal status of the Certification Body;

c) a statement of the organization of the Certification Body, including details of the

governing board, its constitution, terms of reference and rules of procedure;

d) names, qualifications, experience and terms of reference of the senior executive

and other certification personnel, both internal and external;

e) details of training arrangements for certification personnel;

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f) an organization chart showing lines of authority, responsibility and allocation of

functions stemming from the Senior Executive;

g) details of the documented procedures for assessing applicant persons;

h) details of documented procedures for surveillance of certificated persons;

i) a list of its subcontractors and details of the documented procedures for

assessing and monitoring their competence;

k) details of appeals procedures.

Clause 13 CONFIDENTIALITY

The Certification Body shall have adequate arrangements to ensure confidentiality of

the information obtained in the course of its certification activities at all levels of its
organization, including committees.

EAC Guidance

The requirement as to confidentiality at all levels of the organisation includes, for example,
cleaning and security services and anyone who might gain access to information which the
certification body should keep confidential. Subcontracted personnel should keep information
confidential from their other employers.

Clause 14 PUBLICATIONS

14.1 The Certification Body shall produce and update as necessary a list of certified
persons with an outline of the scope of the certification of each person. The list
shall be available to the public.

14.2 A description of the certification system(s) shall be available in published form.

EAC Guidance

Information should be available to the public on payment of no more than a reasonable fee.

Clause 15 APPEALS

The Certification Body shall have procedures for the consideration of appeals against
its decisions.

EAC Guidance

1 Clause 5 requires the governing board to be responsible for certification. The

decisions of a certification body should not therefore be overruled by a body over
which the Governing Board has no control. Confidence in the certification body would
be lacking if it was not empowered to take its own decisions and stand by them. The
appeal procedure should therefore lie within the control of the governing board except
as required by European or national law.
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2 It would be normal for the governing board to establish an appeals procedure which
enabled matters to be considered by people in whom it had confidence who had not
been directly involved in the decision under appeal. Those determining the appeal
should have no direct interest in the decision.

3 The appellant has the right to state objections to the constitution of the appeal panel.
His reasons for lodging objections should be considered by the Governing Board
which should decide whether or not to accept them and amend the constitution of the
panel accordingly.

Clause 16 INTERNAL AUDIT AND PERIODIC REVIEW

The Certification Body shall undertake internal audits and periodic reviews of its
compliance with the criteria of this standard. Such reviews shall be recorded and be
available to persons having a right of access to this information.

EAC Guidance

1 This clause does not mention a specific period in which at least one audit and review
must take place. However, the period specified by the certification body may relate to
the degree of compliance with the requirements of this standard, as found in internal
audits and reviews as well as in reports of an accreditation body. Once a year is
acceptable as a minimum frequency.

2 The accreditation body has a right of access to the records of internal audits and
periodic reviews.

Clause 17 MISUSE OF CERTIFICATES OF COMPETENCE

17.1 The Certification Body shall exercise proper control on the use of its certificates
of competence.

17.2 Incorrect references to the certification systems or misleading use of

certificates found in advertisements, catalogues, etc... shall be dealt with by
suitable actions.

NOTE:
Such actions could include corrective action, publication of the transgression and if
necessary legal action.

EAC Guidance

The certification body should have documented procedures it is to follow in case of misuse,
including false claims as to certification and false use of certification body logos.
Notwithstanding clause 3 of this standard, such misuse could be grounds for declining to
certificate of competence.
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Clause 18 COMPLAINTS

The Certification Body shall require all certificated persons to keep a record of all
complaints made against them within the scope of the certificate of competence.

EAC Guidance

This clause deals only with complaints received by the certificate holder, not by the
certification body.

Clause 19 WITHDRAWAL AND CANCELLATION OF CERTIFICATES

The Certification Body shall have documented procedures for withdrawal and
cancellation of licences, certificates and marks of conformity.