Management of appeals

If you are not satisfied with a decision taken by ACERTA in relation to your certification, validation or verification, you can file an appeal exclusively through our web form, within a maximum of 30 calendar days from the communication of the decision.

All appeals are automatically forwarded to General Management and Corporate Quality Management. When an appeal is received:

The General Management or Corporate Quality Management will forward the information to the Quality Director of the corresponding Operational Area, for the constitution of the Appeals Committee, which will be responsible for its resolution. The Committee will be constituted for each appeal that is managed, since its composition (in terms of people, not profiles) may vary depending on the availability and the file concerned. The Quality Director of the operational Area will be responsible for setting up the Appeals Committee, once the availability and non-participation of the profiles established in the file concerned has been verified, and will inform the General Management.
The Quality Manager of the Operational Area shall inform the interested party within 5 days of the manner in which the appeal will be dealt with, and shall inform that if, for example, any impartiality failures are detected, a new evaluation may even be required. Review the information submitted, in case clarifications are required. Request information if required by the Appeals Committee. Record the appeal in the appropriate format and complete the information as it is processed (appeal number; client; date received).
The Appeals Committee is responsible for the management of the appeal and will be in charge of reviewing the appeal submitted by the client. Verify the complete management of the file, which includes, among other aspects, review of documentation, qualification of the personnel involved in the process and review of the impartiality of the proceedings; it may also include conducting interviews. Requesting information from technical managers if necessary. Establish the conclusions of the analysis carried out. Decide on the actions to be taken. Inform the General Management and the Corporate Quality Management of the treatment and results.
The General Management or the Corporate Quality Management will inform the person who has filed the appeal of the result of its processing.

The Committee will evaluate the documentation that motivated the initial decision, without it being possible to provide new information that had not been previously submitted. We will notify you in writing of the decision within 30 days of receipt. If the certification program establishes different deadlines, these will be applied according to its requirements.

If, as a result of the processing of an appeal, it is concluded that ACERTA has incurred in a deviation, it will be treated as described in the "Procedure for Non-conformities, Corrective and Preventive Actions, Risk and Opportunity Management". If as a result of the appeal it is necessary to repeat the technical evaluation, the customer will be informed in the event that it is necessary to exceed the stipulated 30-day period.

If the appeal is dismissed or no further action is deemed necessary, the interested party will be informed and the reasons will be explained.

The resolution of the appeal closes ACERTA's internal channels. In case of disagreement, you may appeal to the appropriate arbitration or jurisdictional channels.