1.1 Impartiality
1.1.1 AAPA shall be responsible for ensuring that certification activities are undertaken impartially and shall not allow commercial, financial or other pressures to compromise impartiality.
1.1.2 AAPA's top management shall have commitment to impartiality and confidentiality.
1.1.3 All AAPA's personnel (either internal or external) and committees involved in certification activities shall act impartially.
1.1.4 AAPA and any part of the same legal entity and entities under its organizational control or controlling it shall not offer or provide consultancy within the scope of accreditation to its clients, in conformity with the requirements specified in Annex 1(FSC-STD-20-001 V4.0).
1.1.5 This written policy and procedures for avoidance of conflicts of interest. These content include:
a) the contractual obligation for all personnel involved in the certification process, to disclose in writing to AAPA all possible and actual conflicts of interest, at the time that the conflict or possibility of conflict becomes evident;
b) documented procedures (see AAPA-QP-006 Impartiality and confidentiality control procedure) for determining timely and appropriate responses to such declarations of conflict of interest as they arise, to ensure that the declared interests neither influence, nor are perceived to influence, the decisions of AAPA;
c) the maintenance of records:
i. all declarations of potential conflicts of interest;
ii. every action which has been taken to resolve the possibility and actual occurrence of conflicts of interest.
1.1.6 AAPA shall identify, analyse and document risks to its impartiality and confidentiality on an ongoing basis. This shall include those risks that arise from its activities, from its relationships, or from the relationships of its personnel. However, such relationships may not necessarily present a certification body with a risk to impartiality and confidentiality.
NOTE: A relationship presenting a risk to impartiality of AAPA can be based on ownership, governance, management, personnel, shared resources, finances, contracts, marketing (including branding), and payment of a sales commission or other inducement for e.g. the referral of new clients.
1.1.7 If a risk to impartiality is identified, AAPA shall be able to demonstrate how it eliminates or mitigates such risk.
1.1.8 AAPA shall ensure that activities of separate legal entities with which it has relationships, do not compromise the impartiality of its certification activities. This also applies to separate legal entities that have a relationship with the legal entity of which AAPA forms a part of.
1.1.9 When a separate legal entity offers or provides consultancy, AAPA's management personnel and personnel in the audit, review and certification decision-making process shall not be involved in the consultancy activities of the separate legal entity. The personnel of the separate legal entity shall not be involved in the management of AAPA, audit, review, or the certification decision.
1.1.10 AAPA's activities shall not be marketed or offered as linked with the activities of an organization that provides consultancy, implying that certification would be easier, faster or less expensive if a specified consultancy organization were used.
1.1.11 To ensure that there is no conflict of interest, personnel (including those acting in a managerial capacity) who have provided consultancy, or been employed by a client, shall not be used by AAPA to audit, review, make certification decisions or to review or approve the resolution of a complaint or appeal for that client within three (3) years following the end of the consultancy or employment.
1.1.12 AAPA shall have, maintain and implement a documented anti-corruption policy(See Anti-corruption compliance policy).
Committee for safeguarding impartiality
1.1.13 AAPA have a committee for safeguarding its impartiality. The committee provides input on the following:
a) the policies and procedures relating to the impartiality of its certification activities;
b) any tendency on the part of AAPA to allow commercial or other considerations to prevent the consistent impartial provision of certification activities;
c)matters affecting impartiality and confidence in certification.
1.1.14 The documented committee's terms of reference to ensure the following:
a) a balanced representation of interested parties, such that no single interest predominates (internal or external personnel of AAPA are considered to be a single interest, and shall not predominate);
NOTE1: FSC membership or FSC chamber balanced representation is not a precondition for the committee. Balanced representation may be achieved by participation of parties with a variety of expertise, providing economic, social and environmental perspectives.
NOTE2: Interested parties can include clients of AAPA, customers of clients, manufacturers, suppliers, users, conformity assessment experts, representatives of industry trade associations, representatives of governmental regulatory bodies or other governmental services, and representatives of non-governmental organizations, including consumer organizations.
b) access to all the information necessary to enable it to fulfil all its functions;
NOTE3: This includes the documents mentioned in Clauses 1.1.5, 1.1.6, 1.1.7, 1.1.13, as well as other documents, such as information about the organizational structure, relevant management reports and results of external assessments, where they exist.
c) at least one (1) annual meeting;
d) its independence of the financial control of the organization;
e) its independence of certification decision making;
f) records of its discussions and recommendations;
g) records of AAPA's response(s) to its discussions and recommendations.
1.1.15 If the top management of AAPA does not follow the recommendations of this committee, the committee shall have the right to take independent action (e.g. informing authorities, ASI, stakeholders). In taking appropriate action, the confidentiality requirements of Section 1.4 relating to the client and AAPA shall be respected.
1.1.16 Committee's recommendations that are in conflict with the operating procedures of AAPA or other mandatory requirements should not be followed. Management should document the reasoning behind the decision to not follow the recommendations and maintain the document for review by ASI.
1.2 Liability and financing
1.2.1 AAPA shall be able to demonstrate that it has:
a) evaluated the risks arising from its certification activities, and
b) that it has adequate arrangements (e.g. insurance or reserves) to cover liabilities arising from its operations in each of its fields of activities and the geographic areas in which it operates.
1.2.2 AAPA shall have the financial stability and resources required for its operations.
1.3 Non-discriminatory conditions
1.3.1 The policies and procedures under which AAPA operates, and the administration of them, shall be non-discriminatory.
Procedures shall not be used to impede or inhibit access to the certification process by clients, other than as provided for in FSC/PEFC requirements.
1.3.2 Access to the certification process shall not be conditional upon the size of the client or membership of any association or group, nor shall certification be conditional upon the number of certifications already issued. There shall not be undue financial or other conditions.
1.3.3 Notwithstanding the requirements of Clauses 1.3.1 and 1.3.2 above, AAPA can deny certification to a client when fundamental and demonstrated reasons exist (e.g. illegal activities).
1.4 Confidentiality
1.4.1 AAPA shall be responsible, through legally enforceable commitments, for the management of all information obtained or created during the performance of certification activities. Information is considered proprietary and shall be regarded as confidential, except for information that the client makes or is required to make publicly available, that FSC and ASI are entitled to access, or when agreed between AAPA and the client (e.g. for the purpose of responding to complaints).
1.4.2 AAPA maintains and implements this documented policies and procedures for maintenance of confidentiality, including:
a) a policy statement on confidentiality;
b) procedures for ensuring that personnel are aware of the policy and of their consequent obligations;
c) a written confidentiality agreement to be signed by all personnel who have access to confidential information. Such personnel shall include but is not limited to:
i. administrative staff;
ii. auditors, technical experts and audit observers;
ili. consultants and persons providing outsourced services;
iv. certification decision makers;
v. peer reviewers;
vi. committee members.
1.4.3 When AAPA is required by law or authorized by contractual arrangements to release confidential information, the client or person concerned shall, unless prohibited by law, be notified of the information provided.
1.4.4 Information about the client that is not publicly available and is obtained from sources other than the client (e.g. from a complainant) shall be treated as confidential, unless the source of information and the client give written consent to disclose it.