Division 4 The body, its top-level management and the staff responsible for carrying out the conformity assessment tasks cannot be the designer, manufacturer, supplier, installer, purchaser, owner, user or maintainer of the products that they assess, nor the authorised representative of any of those parties. This must not preclude the use of assessed products that are necessary for the operations of the conformity assessment body or the use of such products for personal purposes.

The body, its top-level management and the staff responsible for carrying out the conformity assessment tasks must not be directly involved in the design, manufacture or construction, the marketing, installation, use or maintenance of those products, or represent the parties engaged in those activities. They must not engage in any activity that may conflict with their independence of judgement or integrity in relation to conformity assessment activities for which they are notified. In particular this must apply to consultancy services.

Conformity assessment bodies must ensure that the activities of their subsidiaries or subcontractors do not affect the confidentiality, objectivity or impartiality of their conformity assessment activities.