CERTIFICATION RULES

According to doc. no. 2.3.1 ver. 14

QUALITY REQUIREMENTS FOR MANUFACTURERS

The factory must have a documented system for factory production control (FPC) that includes all requirements in the applied standards.

Quality system

The quality system must be documented and include at least:

organization with responsibilities and powers
self-control system with conformity control and non-conformity measures
production control systems which shall include the necessary routine descriptions and instructions.

If the factory manufactures special products that are not standardized or where welding is included, there must be special product specifications with customer requirements for these.

Staff

The company management must ensure that all staff have relevant skills and be qualified.

Responsible operations manager (AD) and Deputy responsible operations manager (Stf AD)

Each producing plant must have a responsible person with competence and powers to ensure that the intended properties of the product / process are achieved in continuous production. The responsible operations manager should not be responsible for quality.

Quality manager

At each facility, a person shall be appointed as the quality manager who shall be responsible for the FPC system functioning and being complied with.

Testing laboratory for self-inspection

Internal testing laboratories

Personnel must have guaranteed competence to perform tests.

Premises must be such that they facilitate the correct execution of tests, such as lighting, temperature and environment.

Test methods and procedures shall be available to staff.

Test equipment must be calibrated.

External testing laboratories

Externally hired laboratory shall be regarded as its own laboratory.

External test laboratories for reference testing shall be accredited in accordance with EN ISO / IEC 17025 - General requirements for test laboratories.

Certification costs

The cost of product certification or process certification for new factories and the annual cost for certified factories is set by the board of GlobeCert AB each year in September for the following year.

Calculation of certification costs is performed by GlobeCert AB taken in consideration if the factory already have certificate for similar products certified by other accredited bodies and if the factory have a certificate for ISO 9001.

Certification

Certification includes four types of audits:

new certifications
continuous audits
reassessments
extra audits

GlobeCert AB’s representative shall have access to all the facilities, journals, test reports and all documents which could be of interest for the audit or certification. Responsible operations manager and deputy responsible operations manager must be at site for the revision.

During certification of more than one steel grade the producer shall declare which external steel grades the internal steel grade contents

New certification

At certification the control consists of:

factory production control (FPC)
additional tests which has been selected from the factory by the prescribed testing plan

NOTE. Testing of the welding process is not required.

If major non-conformities are to be found during certification, this must be fixed before the certificate is issued

If minor non-conformities are to be found an agreement within which time the response shall be sent to GlobeCert AB is made

Evaluation of approval for certification is made on basis on results from audit and test results

A certificate is issued with a validity of 5 years and the factory is added to the list of manufacturers with certificates

Manufactories of products included in the certificate are obliged to mark the delivery note and the label attached on the product with GlobeCert AB´s Certification mark and certification number

Certification mark and number shall only be used in this way

Audit

Continuous audits are performed:

twice a year or number of audits described in standards
at least once a year for process certification according to SS-EN ISO 17660-1,2

Sampling shall be carried out from certified product and shall be tested internal or external at accredited laboratory according to the products standard

Minor non-conformities shall be corrected before next audit

Major non-conformities shall be answered and approved by GlobeCert AB within 1 month

Reassessment

Reassessments are carried out as a new certification and its requirements and shall be carried out within 5 years from certification, which is the same as one certification cycle.

Misuse of certification

If it comes to GlobeCert AB’s attention either via the auditor or in some other way that the manufacturer is not fulfilling its obligations as per the product/process-certified agreement or is misusing the certificate issued in any other way, one of the following forms of action will be taken:

The factory will be contacted immediately to determine the reason and the consequences for customers. If action is not taken to correct the errors within 3 months, the product/process certification will be withdrawn. The factory is responsible for recalling products/process not fulfilling specified requirements or specifications
In the event of serious non-conformities, the factory must take immediate action (max one month) which shall be approved by GlobeCert AB. If the factory not has reported or taken action within one month a written warning of cancellation of the certificate is sent. After this the company has one month for reporting that actions have been taken. If actions taken are not enough and do not get approval from GlobeCert AB, the certification will be withdrawn effect immediately.

The following applies on withdrawal of certification:

The factory will lose the right to use GlobeCert AB’s logotype and certification number on packing slips and to refer to certification for marketing purposes.
The factory will be removed from the list of product/process certified factories.
The certified products/processes agreement will be terminated.

GlobeCert AB will notify the manufacturer in writing of any action taken above.