What does the following mean?
“The person(s) [excluding members of committees (see 6.1.4)] assigned by the certification body
to make a certification decision shall be employed by, or shall be under legally enforceable arrangement with either the certification body or an entity under the organizational control of the certification body.”
Who are these persons?
Are these persons from the entities where explained in bullets a, b and c in the same clause? Or these persons can be different?
March 2017
*These persons can be from the entities explained in the bullets a,b,c and also persons employed by, or shall be under legally enforceable arrangement with either the certification body or an entity under the organizational control of the certification body.
IAF Technical Committee Decision 15/10/02 is relevant to this question.
It is acceptable for CB decision taking group to be composed of people who are hired as external personnel; provided the personnel meet the competence requirements outlined in ISO/IEC 17021 and ISO/IEC 17021-1 (e.g. section 7.2.8) and the CB has organizational and operational control outlined ISO/IEC 17021-1, section 6.2 as it relates to the decision making person/s.
There are many examples today of this type of situation and ABs have found it acceptable in accordance with ISO/IEC 17021.
Note: ISO/IEC 17021 (nor ISO/IEC 17021-1) does not differentiate between permanent and non-permanent staff.
This means that the persons do not have to be from the entities listed in bullets a), b) and c), but that they shall be under a legally enforceable arrangement with the certification body or one of the entities listed in bullets a), b) and c) and must be under the certification body’s operational control.