Clause 8.6.4 of the standard says, “Internal audits shall be performed at least once every 12 months. The frequency of internal audits may be adjusted depending on the demonstrable effectiveness of the management system and its proven stability.”.
a) E.g. The internal audit and external assessment results of the branch of a multi-site inspection body located in a country different from the country where its headquarters are located have been examined in the last 6 years. It is determined that there has been almost no non-conformity, and the management system has become stable and evidently mature. In this case, the inspection body argues that the frequency of the internal audits may be adjusted once every 2 years. Is it in line with the requirements of clause 8.6.4?
Note: This inspection body implements its management system according to “ISO/IEC 17020:2012 clause 8.1.3 Option B”, i.e., ISO 9001-based.
b) Which situations are possible regarding the second statement (the frequency of internal audits may be adjusted…)? Could the 12-month requirement be interpreted in a more flexible manner?
March 2024
ILAC P15:2020, clause 8.6.4 n1 The inspection body should ensure that all requirements of ISO/IEC 17020 are covered by the internal audit program within the accreditation cycle. The requirements to be covered shall be considered for all fields of inspection and for all premises where inspection activities are managed or performed.The inspection body shall justify the choice of audit frequency for different types of requirements, fields of inspection and premises as part of audit planning performed.
The justification may be based on considerations such as:
- criticality,
- maturity,
- previous performance,
- organisational changes,
- procedural changes, and
- efficiency of the system for transfer of experience between different operational sites and between different fields of operation
Then the “adjustment” referred to in clause 8.6.4 may be to increase or decrease the frequency, if the inspection body can justify it as indicated in the standard and following the criteria of ILAC P15:05/2020.
It is unusual for inspection bodies to carry out internal audits for periods longer than 12 months, if they do, it must be well justified.