GCCQS — Certification Body
Management System Certification
A certificate is worth what the decision behind it is worth.
01The audit
We audit what happens, not what is written down.
Records sampled, activity observed, staff interviewed at every level inside the scope.
02The decision
The person who audited you cannot sign your certificate.
A reviewer who took no part in the audit reads the file and decides.
Seven standards. One way of reaching a decision.
The service
We audit the system in operation, not the manual
Certification is an examination of evidence. We assess your organisation against a published standard, write down what we found, and hand the file to someone who did not audit you.
Audited against the clause
Every finding names the requirement, the evidence and the place we found it. Nothing is graded against a house checklist.
Decided by a reviewer
The certification decision is taken from the report and your responses by a person who took no part in the audit.
Run to ISO/IEC 17021-1 practice
Impartiality, competence and decision-making follow the principles that standard sets for certification bodies. Accreditation details will be published once confirmed.
Standards covered
Seven standards, seven different questions
Open a row to see what each one examines. If you need a standard that is not listed, ask — we will tell you plainly whether we hold the competence to assess it.
What is included
The same programme, whatever your size
A five-person workshop and a multi-site group get the same commitments.
01
A plan before anyone arrives
Auditors, dates, sites, clauses and the people we need to meet, sent in advance. Tell us if the timing or the sampling is wrong.
02
Auditors from your sector
Teams are assigned on technical competence, not availability. Where we do not hold it, we say so instead of taking the work.
03
Findings you can act on
Each nonconformity states the clause, the evidence and where we found it. Nobody on your side has to ask us what we meant.
04
A decision taken separately
A reviewer who took no part in the audit examines the file and issues the certificate, or refuses it and says why.
05
The full three-year cycle
Surveillance, scope changes, transfers in and recertification stay with the same team, so the history of your system sits in one place.
06
Arabic or English
Audits, interviews, closing meetings and reports in either language. Your documented system needs no translation to be reviewed.
Who it is for
The reasons organisations call us
We certify organisations of any size. The trigger is usually one of these.
- A buyer will not place the order until a certificate exists.
- A tender names a standard by number and asks for evidence of it.
- Operations have been rebuilt and the way of working now has to be written down and tested.
- A retailer or a regulator has asked how food safety hazards are controlled.
- Client data is held under contract, and security has to be shown rather than asserted.
- A certificate already exists, but the body that issued it cannot reach the sites.
How it works
Seven stages, in a fixed order
How long each stage takes depends on your size, your sites and how ready the system is. The sequence does not change.
Application
You describe the activities, the sites and the headcount. We draft the scope in writing.
Quotation
Audit days come from size, sites and risk, and are set out across the full three-year cycle.
Stage 1 — readiness
We review the documented system and state in writing what would block Stage 2.
Stage 2 — the main audit
The system in operation: records sampled, activity observed, staff interviewed.
The decision
A reviewer who did not audit you reads the file and decides. A refusal comes with its reasons.
Surveillance
Planned audits through the cycle, the first within twelve months of the decision.
Recertification
The whole system reviewed again before the three years are out, with its performance across the cycle.
What you gain
What changes once the audit is behind you
Certification is a means. These are the things it is a means to.
Market access
Tenders and supply agreements name standards as a condition of entry. A current certificate settles that before the commercial conversation starts.
Fewer customer audits
Buyers who accept third-party certification usually audit you less often themselves. Your staff get those hours back.
A system that outlasts people
Responsibilities, controls and records, defined and then tested by an outsider, stop the organisation depending on what a few experienced people remember.
A record you can defend
When something goes wrong, evidence that risks were assessed and controls reviewed is the first thing a regulator, an insurer or a customer asks for.
Next step
Start with the scope
Send your activities, your sites and the standard you have in mind. We come back with what the audit covers, how many days it takes, and what should be in place before Stage 1.