BSQC’s governance framework is designed to protect the credibility of audit and certification decisions.
Responsibilities for commercial activity, audit delivery, technical review, examination and certification decision are defined and, where required, separated.
Because audit validity relies on independent decision-making, we maintain complete operational isolation between the auditors conducting assessments and the expert reviewers issuing certification decisions.
We identify, manage, and monitor conflicts of interest to ensure our assurance acts remain completely objective.
An impartiality committee or equivalent independent oversight mechanism reviews threats and safeguards.
Auditors, examiners, reviewers and decision-makers declare actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest.
Certification decisions are made by competent personnel who did not conduct the relevant audit or assessment.
Fees are not contingent on a positive result, and certification is never guaranteed.
Audit teams are rotated or changed where familiarity creates an unacceptable threat.
Consultancy, training and certification activities are structurally and operationally controlled to prevent self-review.
Complaints and appeals are handled by people independent of the original decision wherever practicable.
BSQC does not design, implement, maintain or take management responsibility for a client’s system as part of a certification engagement.
A pre-assessment, where permitted, identifies whether evidence appears ready for certification; it does not prescribe solutions or guarantee the result of a later audit.
To ensure audit findings remain unbiased and credible to procurement portals and regulators, BSQC strict policies forbid any auditor from offering system design or development services to our certification applicants.
Information obtained during application, audit, examination and certification is treated as confidential. BSQC may publish limited certificate-directory information and may disclose information where required by law, an accreditation body, a scheme owner or a contractual oversight authority. Where legally permitted, the affected party will be informed before disclosure.
BSQC may make the following information publicly available: certificate holder name, certified site or individual, scope, applicable standard or scheme, certificate number, issue and expiry dates, and current status. Audit reports, examination content, personal evidence and commercially sensitive records are not publicly disclosed unless authorised or required.