Infinity Cert International Ltd. is the legal entity responsible for certification activities; reference to INFINITY CERT INTERNATIONAL LTD. in this Policy and Public Statement refers to these legal entities.
INFINITY CERT INTERNATIONAL LTD. Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Employees fully understands the importance of impartiality in undertaking its Certification activities. INFINITY CERT INTERNATIONAL LTD. will therefore ensure that in all its dealings with clients or potential clients all employees or other personnel will remain impartial.
INFINITY CERT INTERNATIONAL LTD. does not have (and will not form) any relationships with companies who offer consultancy or other services that can be construed as having an impact on the certification services provided by INFINITY Cert. Any proposed relationship between INFINITY CERT INTERNATIONAL LTD. and any other company will undergo a risk assessment by the Committee for Impartiality prior to that relationship being formalized. Any current relationships with companies, organizations and individuals will be risk assessed on a regular basis to ensure that the relationship does not impact upon the impartiality of the certification process.
– Individuals employed by or otherwise contracted to INFINITY CERT INTERNATIONAL LTD. are required to document and record their current and past relationships with all companies. Any situation past or present which may present a potential conflict of interest is required by INFINITY CERT INTERNATIONAL LTD. to be declared. INFINITY CERT INTERNATIONAL LTD. will use the information to identify any threats to impartiality and will not use that individual in any capacity unless they can demonstrate that there is no conflict of interest.
– INFINITY CERT INTERNATIONAL LTD. will not allocate a member of employees to a management system audit where any past relationship has existed. Exceptionally and at the discretion of the Chief Executive Officer an individual may be allocated to a management system audit where a past relationship has existed but there has been no relationship for a minimum of 2 years.
INFINITY CERT INTERNATIONAL LTD. does not and will not offer any commission, (‘finders fees’ or other inducements) to any individual or company in respect of referrals of clients unless:
Threats to impartiality could include but are not limited to the following:
– Self-interest threats: threats that arise from a person or body acting in their own interest. A concern related to certification, as a threat to impartiality, is financial self-interest.
– Self-review threats: threats that arise from a person or body reviewing the work done by themselves. Auditing the management systems of a client to whom the certification body provided management systems consultancy would be a self-review threat.
– Familiarity (or trust) threats: threats that arise from a person or body being too familiar with or trusting of another person instead of seeking audit evidence.
– Intimidation threats: threats that arise from a person or body having a perception of being coerced openly or secretively, such as a threat to be replaced or reported to a supervisor.
All threats to impartiality are reviewed at the annual Advisory Council meeting. The council shall have access to individual(s) who have experience and knowledge relating to medical devices, in order to get expert opinions. All potential sources of conflicts of interest that are identified, whether they arise from within ICI or from the activities of other persons, bodies or organizations are documented on the ICI risk register. This register is reviewed and records of the review are kept in the form of meeting minutes (Advisory Council Meeting Minutes are addressed in the ICI Head Office Manual).
ICI and any part of the same legal entity does not offer or provide any management system consultancy services including internal audit services for its certified clients.