In ILAC P15, Annex 2, (informative) it is stated: Inspection Bodies and its inspectors shall not be engaged with the items inspected as mentioned on the scope of accreditation, thus in general and not restricted to only the specific/ unique/ individual items that are subject of an inspection by the Inspection Body.
Question: Most Type A inspection bodies have many inspectors, full time employee and freelance. Inspectors that are full-time employee cannot have any conflict of interest with the items inspected as mentioned on the scope of accreditation with any companies and in particular they shall not be involved in consultancy and in the design, construction, maintenance, etc. What about freelance inspectors?
March 2022
External inspectors (or freelance inspectors) are considered personnel of the inspection body (see 6.1.2 of ISO/IEC 17020). If the inspection body is a type A, external inspectors cannot be engaged in any activities that may conflict with their independence. And items inspected must be considered as “general”, that is the meaning of ILAC P15. Type A needs strict independence between inspection and design or consultancy for design.
If a type A body wants to hire an external inspector that had been engaged in the past in design etc., it is the task of the inspection body to demonstrate that now this external inspector is no longer involved in design (in general and not for a specific item, for example pressure vessel). The time needed for the conflict to prescribe cannot be fixed because sometimes 2 years will be sufficient and sometimes it needs more time, it depends on the situation.
Please see related paragraphs of ISO/IEC 17020 and Annex A, An1 and Annex 2 of ILAC/IAF P15:05/2020.