Wednesday, 07 December 2016
NEPCon FSC Accreditation Suspended for Russia
Accreditation Services International (ASI) has suspended certification body NEPCon OÜ from issuing FSC Chain of Custody (CoC) and Forest Management (FM) certificates in Russia.
The suspension came into effect on 01 December 2016 and will be in place for a maximum of six months.
The measure restricts NEPCon’s capacity to offer and provide FSC accredited CoC and FM certification to new clients in Russia and is a result of major non-conformities detected by ASI with FSC accreditation standards.
During the period of suspension certificates issued by NEPCon in Russia will remain valid and during this same period NEPCon can continue to conduct surveillance and re-certification audits for existing clients and renew certificates.
NEPCon has filed an appeal with ASI requesting that the accreditation body reconsider the decision on the grounds stated under article 5.3.1 of the Appeals Procedure ASI-PRO-20-103-Appeals-V4.1.
The suspension will be lifted if NEPCon demonstrates during the next six months that it has been able to address and close all the major non-conformities identified. If the suspension is not lifted within that time frame, accreditation for NEPCon will be withdrawn. In this eventuality, certificates issued by NEPCon would remain valid for a transition period of 6 months to allow for certificate holders to enter into a new agreement with another accredited CB to seek a new certificate.
NEPCon currently has issued approximately 1,800 FSC certificates worldwide, roughly 10% of which are issued in Russia.
For any questions or comments please contact ASI at info at accreditation-services point com.