Article 8 Requirements for the UK national accreditation bodyF4

F1The UK national accreditation body must fulfil the following requirements:

1. 1..

   it F2must be organised in such a manner as to make it independent of the conformity assessment bodies it assesses and of commercial pressures, and to ensure that no conflicts of interest with conformity assessment bodies occur;

2. 2..

   it must be organised and operated so as to safeguard the objectivity and impartiality of its activities;

3. 3..

   it must ensure that each decision relating to the attestation of competence is taken by competent persons different from those who carried out the assessment;

4. 4..

   it must have adequate arrangements to safeguard the confidentiality of the information obtained;

5. 5..

   it must identify the conformity assessment activities for which it is competent to perform accreditation, referring, where appropriate, to F3any enactment and standards;

6. 6..

   it must set up the procedures necessary to ensure efficient management and appropriate internal controls;

7. 7..

   it must have a number of competent personnel at its disposal sufficient for the proper performance of its tasks;

8. 8..

   it must document the duties, responsibilities and authorities of personnel who could affect the quality of the assessment and of the attestation of competence;

9. 9..

   it must establish, implement and maintain procedures for monitoring the performance and competence of the personnel involved;

10. 10..

    it must verify that conformity assessments are carried out in an appropriate manner, meaning that unnecessary burdens are not imposed on undertakings and that due account is taken of the size of an undertaking, the sector in which it operates, its structure, the degree of complexity of the product technology in question and the mass or serial nature of the production process;

11. 11..

    it must publish audited annual accounts prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.