Transition requirements for SCC’s Greenhouse Gas Accreditation Program

Bulletin date:
Bulletin number:
2020-15

Action required

All accredited Greenhouse Gas Accreditation Program (GHGAP) organizations must ensure they complete transition reviews to the applicable standards by the deadline.

 

Affected customers

Existing SCC GHGAP customers and new applicants.

 

Background

Old versions of the standards: ISO 14064-1:2006, ISO 14064-2:2006, ISO 14064-3:2006, ISO 14065:2013

 

New versions of the standards: ISO 14064-1:2018, ISO 14064-2:2019, ISO 14064-3:2019, ISO 14065:202X

 

New standard: ISO/IEC 17029:2019

 

The new version of ISO 14065 is not expected to be published before 2021. In contrast to the current version of ISO 14065:2013, the new version is not expected to contain sufficient requirements to be used for accreditation on its own, and will be used in combination with the newly published standard on validation & verification: ISO/IEC 17029:2019.

 

New requirements

There are several voluntary and regulatory GHG programmes that reference the older versions of the standards, these versions can remain on the scope of the GHG accredited customers (VVBs) until the relevant program requirements are fully developed.

 

SCC will assess conformity to the requirements of ISO 14064-1:2018 & ISO 14064-2:2019 as part of the scheduled office assessments by 2021-12-31 and ISO 14064-3:2019 by 2023-04-30.

 

The VVB is expected to provide a transition plan to SCC that includes the necessary changes to meet the requirements of ISO 14064-1:2018, ISO 14064-2:2019, and ISO 14064-3:2019 respectively.

 

The transition plan, which shall include, but is not limited to, the following items:

  • Gap analysis
  • High-level description of VVB’s requirements to be met by their applicants and clients
  • Mechanisms and timelines for transition of their clients to the revised standards
  • Plans for training validators/verifiers to the revised standard
  • The date after which applications for validation/verification to ISO 14064-1:2006, ISO 14064-2:2006, ISO 14064-3:2006 are no longer accepted by the CB
  • An outline of provisions in the case of unsuccessful transition by their clients

 

During the transition period, SCC assessors will raise observations related to the implementation of this bulletin. After the end of the transition period, and dependent on the VVB’s scope, SCC assessors will raise non-conformities related to the respective version of the standards. At the end of the transition period, dependent on the GHG programmes, the VVB shall demonstrate to SCC’s satisfaction that it has implemented the changes to meet the necessary requirements of all applicable versions of the standards.

 

After the transition to the new standards is approved, both versions of the standards can be listed on the scope of accreditation.

 

The scheduling and planning of the witness audits will need to explicitly state what version of the standard is being applied. 

 

After the transition deadline, witness audits must be to the new version of the standards unless there are programme specific requirements citing the older versions.

 

VVBs should note that until SCC has approved their transition, VVBs shall not provide validation and verification services to the new versions under their SCC accreditation. A VVB may submit its transition plan as soon as it is ready or before the next planned head office assessment.  If requested, SCC will evaluate transition plans through a desk review/assessment for which SCC fees apply. Once SCC approves the transition, the accreditation scope will be updated to include the respective standards. This indicates that the VVB can start providing validation and verification services to the new versions of the standards. SCC will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the transitions over the course of planned SCC assessments. SCC encourages that accredited VVBs start developing their transition plans now and advise their respective account manager when they would like to have their transition plan assessed.

 

Deadline

For ISO 14064-1:2018 & ISO 14064-2:2019, the transition deadline is 2021-12-31 and for ISO 14064-3:2019 it is 2023-04-30.

 

The deadline and plan for ISO 14065:202X and ISO/IEC 17029:2019 will be provided at a later date after ISO 14065:202X is released.

New applicants must apply for both versions of the standards.

 

Questions?

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