Inspection Bodies with additional Fixed Office Locations

Bulletin date:
Bulletin number:
2022-10

Action required

Effective Immediately, all Inspection Bodies (IBs) shall include, in their Scopes of Accreditation (SOA), all Fixed Office Location(s) (FOL) that operate(s) under the Inspection Body. FOL can be located in Canada or abroad. 

The IB shall apply for a scope extension to SCC, through their account manager, to request the addition of the identified FOL that conducts one or more of the key activities listed in the background section below. The scope extension application form shall list all locations to be included on the scope, and each FOL will be individually assessed.

If an FOL conducts one or more of the activities listed in the background section below, it shall be listed on the SOA. If the IB’s head office can provide objective evidence of control over all activities carried out at the fixed office location, then the IB does not need to add that FOL on the SOA. 

 

Affected customers

All accredited and applicant IBs. 

 

Background

IBs have been operating under the Inspection Body Accreditation Program (IBAP) listing only their head office location on their SOA. Recently, IBs have been relying more on additional FOLs to carry out inspection activities where the FOL handles the process for hiring along with the inspection activities carried out at that location. 

To comply with ISO/IEC 17011:2017, SCC must assess the FOL of the IB carrying out inspection activities at least once within the four-year accreditation cycle.


SCC defines a FOL to be an IB location conducting any of the following activities:

  • Policy formulation
  • Process and/or procedure development
  • Process of initial selection, assessment of competence, authorization of inspectors, and monitoring
  • Contract review including technical review of applications and determining technical requirements for inspection
  • Planning inspection or pre-inspection activities
  • Review, decisions, or approval of inspection activities 

 

New requirements

FOLs conducting key activities shall be listed on the SOA of the IBs operating under the IBAP.  

 

Deadline

The deadline to have all FOL carrying out activities as identified above listed on the Scope of accreditation is April 1st, 2023. 


A review of the Fixed Office Locations will be conducted during Head Office (HO) assessments occurring before April 1st, 2023. An observation will be issued if the IB has submitted an application to add the Fixed Office Location(s) to the Scope of Accreditation. 


Nonconformities (NCRs) will be issued during the HO assessment before April 1st, 2023 if the IB has not yet submitted an application to add the Fixed Office Location(s) to the Scope of Accreditation. 

 

Questions?

Please contact Abdel Kassou, Manager, Compliance and Assessment Services, at abdel.kassou@scc-ccn.ca  or +1 613 238 3222 for more information.