Instytut Energetyki

Extract from procedure PJC_06 ‘Handling complaints and appeals’.

1 OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the procedure is to ensure a correct, fair and objective procedure, when dealing with appeals against decisions of the head of the certification body or complaints concerning the activities of the certification body, submitted by applicants for certification or certificate holders.

2. SCOPE OF APPLICATION

The Procedure applies at any stage of the certification process in a situation where the applicant or certificate holder has objections to the proper conduct of the certification process and/or disagrees with the decision of the head of the certification body. The Procedure also applies to certification body activities of an inspection nature.

3. RELATED DOCUMENTS

3.1 PN-EN ISO/IEC 17065:2013-03 ‘Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services’.

3.2 PN-EN ISO/IEC 17067:2014-01 - ‘Basis for product certification and guidelines for certification programmes’.

3.3 PN-EN ISO-IEC 17020:2012 Conformity assessment - ‘General criteria for the operation of various types of inspection’.

4. PROCEDURE

4.1 General provisions

4.1.1 Upon receipt of a complaint or appeal, the certification body shall confirm whether the complaint or appeal relates to the certification activity for which it is responsible. If so, the body shall proceed accordingly with the steps described in para. 4.2 of this procedure.

4.1.2 The decision resolving the complaint or appeal shall be made or reviewed and approved by a person not involved in the certification activity related to the complaint or appeal.

4.1.3 In order to ensure that there is no conflict of interest, the certification body shall ensure that the personnel involved in the complaint and appeal resolution activities have not provided consultancy or been employed by the client submitting the appeal or complaint for at least two years prior to the date of receipt.

4.2 Complaints and appeals

4.2.1 The certification body shall receive and consider any complaint, concerning the way in which the body operates, related to the conduct of certification processes and/or activities of an inspection nature, submitted by the applicant for certification or by the certificate holder in any form (written, oral, electronic letter).

Within 30 days of the date of the decision, the certification body shall receive and consider any appeal, relating to the decision taken, by the applicant for certification or by the certificate holder. Within 30 days from the date of issuance of the inspection report, the body shall also accept and consider appeals related to activities of an inspection nature.

Complaints or appeals - in writing - are received by the head of the certification body and are entered by him in the register of appeals against decisions, according to the model given in Annex No. 2 or Annex No. 1 to this Procedure, respectively. The appeal, together with all the necessary information concerning it, is then sent directly to the Director of IPE-NRI for consideration.

4.2.2 After consulting the Director's Quality Officer and obtaining an explanation of the reasons and validity of the complaint or appeal - the IPE-NRI Director shall make a decision on whether or not to accept the complaint or appeal, which he shall communicate in writing to the applicant within 14 days of the date on which the complaint or appeal was received by the IPE-NRI Certification Body, unless there are special circumstances making it impossible to meet this deadline.

4.2.3 In the event that the IPE-NRI Director does not acknowledge the complaint or appeal, the appealing client may take legal action, which shall be notified in the same letter in which the IEn Director's decision not to acknowledge the complaint or appeal is communicated.

4.2.4 If the complaint or appeal is found to be justified, the head of the certification body shall initiate appropriate corrective and preventive actions according to Procedure PJC_13 ‘Corrective and Preventive Actions’ and, in agreement with the IEn Director, take action to satisfy the person or organisational unit making the complaint or appeal. These may include, for example, making appropriate corrections or additions to documents, updating publications, etc.

4.3 Documents relating to complaints and appeals

4.3.1 Documents relating to appeals against decisions of the head of the certification body shall be attached to, as appropriate:

documentation of the application for product certification,
documentation of the supervised certification,
documentation related to activities of an inspection nature.

4.3.2 Documents relating to complaints are kept in a separate file named ‘Complaints’.

5. RESPONSIBLE PERSONS

The Director of the Institute of Power Engineering is responsible for handling complaints and appeals.

1. The Certification Body operating within the Institute of Power Engineering, which is a research institute, in the field of creating the collection, use and dissemination of knowledge useful for the development and improvement of the national power engineering industry and various organisations working for it or cooperating with it, both domestic and foreign:

a. performs the Institute's tasks in the field of certification of products within the scope of PCA accreditation, by acting in accordance with the international standard PN-EN ISO/IEC 17065, on the territory of Poland and countries, primarily those which are signatories to multilateral agreements on accreditation,

b. be responsible for a high level of competent and reliable assessment of certified products, ensuring the credibility of the Institute

c. contributes to the introduction of electrotechnical products into both Polish and international markets.

2. As basic quality objectives, the Certification Body sets itself the task to:

a.  to ensure the highest quality of services to the electrical engineering industry, provided responsibly and professionally, both on the Polish and international markets,

b. to gain and maintain customer recognition, partnership cooperation and continuous development.

3. The implementation by the certification body of the Institute of Power Engineering of the above quality objectives is ensured by:

a. applying and maintaining a management system that complies with the requirements of the international standard PN EN ISO/IEC 17065, the procedures and policies and principles described in the Quality Book,

b. ensuring independence, impartiality and integrity at all stages of the certification process,

c. to select competent personnel with appropriate education, experience and practical skills, and to provide opportunities and means for systematic consolidation and upgrading of their qualifications,

d. to provide adequate resources to carry out its tasks,

e. ensuring the confidentiality of all information obtained from clients during the testing and certification process.

f. not to succumb to commercial, financial or other pressures that could compromise impartiality.

4. Evaluation of the achievement of the quality policy objectives is ensured by:

a. periodic internal audits and management reviews,

b. periodic meetings of the Certification Scheme Supervisory Board as a mechanism for safeguarding the impartiality of product certification processes,

c. collection of clients' opinions concerning cooperation with Certification Body,

d. current updating of the analysis of the risk of conflict of interests and threats to impartiality.

5. In our sense of responsibility for the quality policy, we declare, on behalf of ourselves and our subordinate employees, that the personnel of the Certification Body are aware of and apply the quality policy and the requirements contained in the management system documentation.

No deviation from the declared quality policy is foreseen.

Dariusz Zienkiewicz, Eng. MSc. Head of Certification and Inspection Department

prof. Jakub Kupecki, PhD, Eng. Director of the Institute of Power Engineering - National Research Institute

Warsaw, 3 January 2024

Certificate of Conformity according to certification programme type 1a The Certificate of Conformity according to the Type 1a certification programme (according to PN-EN ISO/IEC 17067:2014-01) is issued as a result of a successfully completed certification process, during which the product properties are confirmed by type testing.
Certificate of conformity according to type 3 certification programme The Certificate of Conformity according to the Type 3 certification programme (according to PN-EN ISO/IEC 17067:2014-01) is issued as a result of a successfully completed certification process, which includes: confirmation of product properties by type testing, and periodic testing of the product taken from the factory together with assessment of its manufacturing process. Only tests carried out in laboratories accredited by the Polish Centre for Accreditation and other accreditation bodies are included in the certification process: EA (European Co-operation for Accreditation), IAF (International Accreditation Forum). or laboratories in which tests were performed under the supervision of substantive employees of the certifying body IEN-PIB or other - EA, IAF (e.g. lack of laboratories accredited in a relevant scope, approval by subject standards of tests in a factory laboratory).
IPE-NRI certificate Since 2009, Technical Evaluations of products intended for the domestic power industry and units cooperating with it have been issued in the form of IEN-PIB Certificates, replacing the Certificates and Approvals issued so far, under the authority granted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Department of Fuels and Energy, in letter No. DE-3/10/3494/94 of 24.10.1994 and upheld in letter No. DIN-IV-077-1-HM/04 of 10.05.2004 from the Ministry of Economy and Labour, Department of Innovation.