NABCB FAQ

What is NABCB?

  • NABCB is the acronym for National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies. NABCB is a constituent of Quality Council of India (QCI). QCI has been established in 1998 through the joint initiatives of the Indian Government and the industries.

What is the objective of NABCB?

  • The objective of NABCB is to establish and offer accreditation schemes, based on internationally accepted standards, for certification bodies and inspection bodies engaged in providing services of system certification (ISO 9001, ISO 14001 etc.), product certification and inspection.

What is accreditation?

  • Accreditation is the formal recognition of competence. In our context it relates to competence of certification bodies and inspection bodies.

Why is accreditation needed?

  • Accreditation is the recognized mechanism accepted by WTO / TBT agreements for establishing equivalence of certification/ inspection schemes operated in different countries as also the test results of various laboratories
  • Clause 6.1.1 of TBT Agreement refers to mutually satisfactory understanding regardingadequate and enduring technical competence of the relevant conformity assessment bodies in the exporting Member, so that confidence in the continued reliability of their conformity assessment results can exist; in this regard, verified compliance, for instance through accreditation, with relevant guides or recommendations issued by international standardizing bodies shall be taken into account as an indication of adequate technical competence

What is the structure of NABCB?

  • Chairman of the Board is nominated by Chairman of Quality Council of India. The other members are nominees of Ministry of Commerce, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotions, CII, FICCI & ASSOCHAM (industry associations), Bureau of Indian standards, nominees of Association of Certification Bodies (2- one representing CBs and one representing auditors), nominee from consulting organizations and nominee of consumer bodies (11 members including Chairman). There could be other invitee members.

What are the accreditation schemes offered by NABCB now?

  • NABCB offers accreditation in the areas of Management System Certification [based on ISO 9001 (QMS), ISO 14001 (EMS), ISO 22000 (FSMS)] , Product Certification and Inspection bodies.

How does NABCB obtain its finances and wht is the fee structure for accreditation?

  • NABCB obtains its finances through the services offered and from no other sources. The fee structure is decided by NABCB Board from time to time. The current fee structure is a part of the application pack and is also available on request.

How does NABCB ensures that its accreditation is recognized worldwide?

  • NABCB is a member of the Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (association of Accreditation Bodies in the Asia-Pacific Region) and International Accreditation Forum (Association of Accreditation Bodies worldwide). NABCB is also a signatory to the IAF MLA (Multi lateral Arrangement for Mutual Recognition). This status has been achieved after undergoing an assessment by our peers from other countries.

How can a company not satisfied with the Certification Body, complain against it?

  • Each Certification body has a procedure to resolve the complaints, disputes and appeals. The company should first write to the certification body for resolution of the complaint, dispute or appeal.
  • In case the certification body is not able to satisfy the company raising complaint, dispute or appeal, then the company can approach the respective accreditation body with complete details of the matter for redressal. If NABCB is approached with the complaint, it will be forwarded to the respective accreditation body if the certification body referred in the complaint is not accredited by NABCB. If the complaint/dispute or appeal does not have the name and address of the sender and/or is not accompanied by the relevant evidence of the basis of complaint and the effort to resolve the complaint with the Certification Body, NABCB will reserve the right to decide whether to process the complaint, Dispute or appeal or not.

How can a customer complain against an ISO Certified Company?

  • Each of the Certified Company has procedure to address the complaints of the customers. If the customer is not happy with the redressal of his complaint, he/she should complain to the respective Certification Body for redressal of their complaint.

NABCB FAQ-IB

What is accreditation?

  • Accreditation is third party attestation of competence, of conformity assessment. It is about obtaining third party recognition for your organisation’s competence in producing consistent and reliable data for a defined set of activities that is detailed in a schedule of accreditation.

Is accreditation mandatory?

  • Accreditation is a voluntary program for organisations. However, more and more regulators are relying on accredited conformity assessment bodies and they mandate accreditation prior to seeking regulatory approval.

How does a new organization get accredited for inspection body program?

  • The first step is to gain an understanding of what standards needs to be implemented. For the purpose of accreditation in inspection, organization should refer to ISO/IEC 17020. The management system should be established as per requirements of ISO/IEC 17020 and all requirements should be addressed in a Quality Manual which is required to be prepared.
  • The inspection body seeking to apply for accreditation should document and control the procedures and necessary forms and formats. A training course on requirements of ISO/IEC 17020 can also be undertaken,
  • After completion of documentation and implementation of the system, NABCB application form has to be filled updating the necessary columns. The application form can be downloaded from NABCB website http://nabcb.qci.org.in/applicantlist/appli_acc_inspection_bodies.php . To download the application form, please go to section of Accreditation schemes in the side bullet review Inspection Bodies and download the application form. The other documents under this section i.e Accreditation Criteria (BCB (IV)-110_Mar 2017), Accreditation Procedure (BCB-201(IB)_Sep 2005), NABCB Fees, Self Assessment checklist (BCB_F_010 (4)) and draft agreement for accreditation should also be downloaded and reviewed.
  • The application form (with annexures) has to be submitted with fees, Quality manual, procedures (as relevant) and self-assessment checklist.
  • Inspection bodies will also need to define the scope of activities they are seeking accreditation for. A classification of scope sectors can be viewed in the document BCB 201 (IB)_ Sep 2005 – Accreditation procedure.
  • You may also like to refer to scope of other accredited inspection bodies from website http://nabcb.qci.org.in/accreditation/ reg_bod_inspection_bodies.php

What are the stages of accreditation process?

  • After submission of the application form following are stages in the accreditation process:
  • Acknowledgement in 3 working days
  • Initial review of application and informing applicant IB about the shortcomings (if any)
  • Application and Document Review by 2 assessors for 3 man days total
  • Pre-assessment (voluntary/ if there are too many unresolved issues in Document review.)
  • Initial office assessment by assessment team based on scopes applied for Witness assessments upon successful completion of initial office assessment.
  • Technical review of reports after closure of all findings
  • Decision by independent accreditation committee based on recommendations of NABCB secretariat
  • Grant of accreditation
  • Continued monitoring of accreditation status via surveillance office and witness assessments and re-assessments over a fixed accreditation cycle.

How long does the accreditation process take?

  • The accreditation process depends on the readiness of inspection bodies and the implementation of management system in accordance with the requirements of ISO/IEC 17020 and accreditation requirements. NABCB will review the objective evidence that the facility is producing. Typically, timelines are a minimum of 6 months for the whole process, or it could take up to a maximum of 1 year depending on your state of readiness. The timelines for different stages are
  • Acknowledgement of application: 5 days
  • Initial scrutiny of application: 5 days
  • Document review: 15 days
  • The above are timelines for different stages and are dependent on the nature of responses submitted and their correctness. Different stages are planned based on the satisfactory completion of previous stages

What are main steps where accreditation process gets delayed?

  • Some specific issues that result in delay in the accreditation proces
  • Document review stage where in inadequate documents are submitted. It is observed self-assessment checklist is not appropriately completed during submission. Cross references are not adequately marked. In addition, all relevant procedures and forms mentioned in self- assessment checklist are not submitted at one go.
  • Longer time taken for satisfactory closure of NC. It is essential that for early and satisfactory closure of NC appropriate root cause analysis is conducted and necessary actions initiated.
  • Lack of competence in scope sectors as absence of same prohibits the stage of conduct of witness assessment therefore delaying accreditation process
  • Scope is not properly defined.

What are main clauses of ISO/IEC 17020 which require special care?

  • Inspection bodies need to address all the requirements with care showing special emphasis on the requirements of impartiality and independence in Clause 4.1. In addition, competence requirements also need to be adhered and qualification of inspectors need to be ascertained with appropriate review.
  • Record upkeep and control of documents have to be also ensured
  • Scope sought for accreditation should be clearly defined.

What is the total cost in the process?

  • The cost for different stages are as described in BCB 002 (IB) – February 2015 of Fee structure_IB document. Typically the costs are related to :
  • Application fees
  • Document review costs for 3 Man days (upto 2 iterations)
  • Pre-assessment Man day cost if applicable
  • Initial assessment costs for total mandays (minimum 4 Man days, can be more based on scopes applied for)
  • Witness assessment costs (Minimum 2 Man days, based on scopes applied for)
  • Annual operating fees
  • Cost of travel of assessors and their lodging.

What are the benefits of accreditation?

  • NABCB has a mutual recognition (MRA) with international bodies i.e International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC) which allows the acceptance of inspection reports across MRA signatory nations worldwide. Besides this the other benefits include
  • Recognition of Technical Competence
  • Customer confidence & satisfaction
  • Minimizes risks
  • Avoids re-testing/inspection & Reduces costs
  • Increased efficiency
  • Marketing advantage & Increased business
  • International Recognition

Who supports if there is are issues faced during process of preparation?

  • NABCB staff would extend support to guide on queries faced during preparatory stage of accreditation. Details of staff can be referred under Contact Us section of NABCB website http://www.qcin.org/contact.php.
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