The Certification Process

Initial Presentation and Fee Proposal

A Global-Mark Client Manager will contact you to gain a good understanding of your operation, team, products or business, and your certification requirements. This can happen either over the phone or by a visit to your office/site. The Client Manager will also provide you with all the information you need regarding certification, Global-Mark’s processes, the fee structure and what will be required from your organisation. Once your Client Manager understands your requirements, they will provide you with a fee proposal detailing fees and costs. This is a free service and carries no obligation to proceed with certification.

Application

  1. Once you have reviewed and accepted the fee proposal and wish to commit to the Global-Mark certification process, an approved signatory from your organisation should complete, sign and return a Client Agreement Form. The form is a formal contract between your organisation and Global-Mark Pty Ltd, and outlines your acceptance of the certification process, the rules governing certification and related accreditation marks, appeals and contractual terms and conditions.
  2. Once the Client Agreement Form is received and the Application Fee has been paid, we will send you an acknowledgement of your application. Dependent on the program, a Global-Mark Certificate of Membership is also available and is useful in demonstrating your commitment towards gaining certification.

Document Review

  1. Document Reviews are a requirement of certain programs (refer to the specific Program Information Brochure) and are conducted to ensure that the structure and content of the Management System is likely to meet the requirements of the standard. At the conclusion of the Document Review you will receive a report or letter outlining and explaining what we believe has been missed or is not clearly addressed. The report will also explain if a further Document Review is needed or if you may progress to the next stage.

Pre-Certification Review

  1. A Pre-Certification Review is required for some programs and is optional for others (refer to the specific Program Information Brochure). The Pre-Certification Review is carried out at your office or on-site. It reviews the nature of the site processes, hazards, environmental impacts and aspects (as appropriate) and also verifies to a lesser extent the existence of systems as appropriate to their working context.
  2. The aim of this step is to ensure that your organisation is likely to be ready for the Certification Review. At the conclusion of the Pre-certification Review you will receive a report supported by Review Findings, if any.

Certification Review

  1. The Certification Review is carried out to determine whether your Management System or Product complies with the certification standard. The length of time that it takes to carry out the Certification Review will depend on your organisation, the standard, number of employees, shifts, products, process complexity and the number of sites. The duration and timing will be pre-arranged with you.
  2. At the completion of the Certification Review your Client Manager will conduct a closing meeting where they will present the Review Findings and conclusions. These will be documented at the closing meeting and presented verbatim to your team. You will then receive a Review Report and Review Findings that will detail any areas of Non-Conformity, Improvement Requests, Observations and a Post-Certification Review Plan.
  3. If there are no Non-Conformities your Client Manager will recommend certification to the Managing Director. The recommendation is then internally assessed and you will receive an email notification when the process has commenced. If approved, Global-Mark will inform you in writing that you have been successful and issue your Certificate of Approval, identifying the program/s to which your organisation is certified.
  4. Your organisation is then granted the use of the Global-Mark® and, where appropriate, the JAS-ANZ mark, on stationery and marketing material. Your organisation is also listed on Global-Mark’s Register of Certified Organisations and, if applicable, the JAS-ANZ Register of Certified Organisations.

Post-Certification Review

  1. Our programs contain a requirement for Post-Certification Reviews to be carried out at predetermined intervals from the date of your initial certification. These reviews are carried out in the same manner as the Certification Review and are necessary for Global-Mark to be assured that your system continues to comply with the standard and that certification continues to be maintained. Post-Certification Reviews are generally shorter in duration, due to the fact that only portions of the standard are being reviewed.

Re-Certification Review

  1. A Business Review of the system, as a whole, is required to be completed every 3 years after the initial Certification Review, or last Re-Certification. It aims to confirm that the systems, in their entirety, are working well and that the links between processes are sound. The duration of the Re-Certification Review is generally longer than a normal Post-Certification Review, but shorter than the original Certification Review.
  2. Based on the outcomes of the review, the Global-Mark Client Manager will recommend that certification be renewed, withheld or suspended. The recommendation is then internally assessed and you will receive an email notification when the process has been completed. A new Certificate of Approval is issued after a successful Re-certification.

Follow Up Review

A Follow Up Review is required if:

  1. There are a large number of Improvement Requests
  2. There are one or more Non-Conformities
  3. There are changes within the organisation
  4. A complaint has been raised with Global-Mark or a breach has been reported to Global-Mark or a related stakeholder
  5. The integrity or compliance of the system, process or product needs to be verified, and is determined by Global-Mark
  6. The scope of certification is to be extended
  7. There is a change in the certification standard or requirements