1. Purpose

This procedure describes the process for handling Appeal or Complain raised by Client Organization, interested party related to UK Certification and Assessment Ltd certification or Training Examination or certification activities or Third Party Inspection activities or certification decision or examination evaluation or about the person involved in the certification activities or training examination evaluation.

2. Related procedure

No.	Procedure	Main activities	Related document & record
1.	Receive Appeal/Complain	The complaint/Appeal received through Email/letter/Telephonic shall be entertained. The concern of complaining/Appeal shall be noted in the customer complain sheet and conveyed to the Operation Manager/CEO. The receipt of complain/Appeal shall notify the concern person or organization (those who have made the complaint/appeal) by a suitable method of communication.	Customer Complain/dissatisfaction/appeal list
2.	Verify the nature of Complain	The person responsible for handing the Appeal/ complain shall verify the nature of Appeal /Complain is directly related to certification activity (About Conduct of Audit/ certification decision/About UK Certification and Assessment Ltd management system/ beyond the scope of UK Certification and Assessment Ltd Activities) or Personal certification (Training) or Third Party Inspection. Then it shall be dealt as per the requirements for handing Appeal/ complain below in clause 4 to 6 below
3.	Handling of Complain/Appeal which is not related to Certification activities	Complain/Appeal which isn’t related to UK Certification and Assessment Ltd certification/Inspection activity shall be dealt with by the person in charge /CEO and reported verbally. And then it shall be closed after ensuring that it is noted on customer complain /appeal File.	Customer dissatisfaction/appeal dealing list
4.	Appeal/ Complain, investigation Team,	UK Certification and Assessment Ltd shall appoint the independent investigation team and shall ensure that the persons engaged in the appeals-handling process are different from those who carried out the audits/Inspection/Training assessment and made the certification decisions or linked with Appeal/Complain. The result of the investigation shall be recorded in the customer Complain/appeal File.	Appointment of Investigation Team
5.	Handling of Appeal/Complain	Take actions to settle Appeal/complain and record the result of measures in customer Complaint/appeal File. Notify customer/Interested Party who raised appeal/complain of the result of action taken.	customer dissatisfaction/appeal dealing report
6.	Satisfied with actions	UK Certification and Assessment Ltd shall ensure that the customer/Interested Party who raised Appeal/complain is satisfied with the result of measures taken against Appeal/complain. If yes, close the activities of investigation and notify to customer/Interested Party who raise Appeal/complain, in written and take the written consent, for acceptance/satisfaction. If not, continue the investigation, till the satisfaction of the customer/Interested Party who raises Appeal/complain.
7.	Time for Response of appeal/ Complain	The appeal/Complain received to UK Certification and Assessment Ltd, shall be attended within 72hrs. Raised appeal/Complain shall be conveyed to the CEO and note in customer complain/Appeal file.	customer dissatisfaction/appeal dealing report
8.	Arbitration process	The person who isn’t satisfied with the determination of UK Certification and Assessment Ltd appeal /complain handling can raise appeal additionally and this appeal shall be submitted officially within 30 days after receiving the determination of appeal /complain Handling. This appeal /complain raised shall be submitted to an arbitration process to UAFL and all the people interested shall agree to follow the determination of the arbitrator.

3. Responsibility for making decisions on Appeal/ Complain:

The UK Certification and Assessment Ltd is responsible for taking decisions at all levels of the appeals/complain-handling process. The key responsibility lies with the CEO of UK Certification and Assessment Ltd.

4. UK Certification and Assessment Ltd Policy for Appeals / Complain Handling

UK Certification and Assessment Ltd is responsible for all decisions at all levels of the appeals/complain-handling process. The UK Certification and Assessment Ltd shall ensure that the persons engaged in the appeals/complaint-handling process are different from those who carried out the audits/Inspection/Training and made the certification decisions or linked with the nature of Appeal/complain.

The UK Certification and Assessment Ltd shall not take any discriminatory actions against the appellant/complainer, after submission, investigation, and decision on complaints/Appeal

The following shall be considered by UK Certification and Assessment Ltd, during appeals/Complain-handling processes.

• an outline of the process for receiving, validating and investigating the appeal/Complain, and for deciding what actions are to be taken in response to it, taking into account the results of previous similar appeals.
• UK Certification and Assessment Ltd shall gather and verify all necessary information to validate the appeal.
• Tracking and recording appeals/Complain, including actions undertaken to resolve them.
• Ensuring that any appropriate correction and corrective action are taken.

5. Appeal / Complain Handling Process

If Appeal/Complain is received, shall be recorded in customer complain /appeal record (F-0110) on the day received and conveyed to the CEO for the determination of further action and taking the action on received Appeal/Complain

After receipt of appeal/ Complain UK Certification and Assessment Ltd responsible person shall immediately notify the concern person or organization (who has made the appeal/complain), about the confirmation of receipt of complain and process of handing the same to resolve the issue.

The received Appeal/ Complain shall be handled as follow

Appoint the Team for Investigation of Appeal/Complain- The team shall be examined and verify all necessary information to validate the complaint/Appeal. The person having no connection with the Appeal/complain shall be assigned responsibility for investigation. During the investigation, the investigation shall review the previous action taken against the similar appeal / complain (if any).

After the investigation

• If it is found that received appeal/complain is directly related to certification activity. The investigation team shall submit the investigation report within 72 Hrs and necessary measures shall be taken in consultation with Impartial Committee members and communicated to Applier/Complainer corrective measure taken and recorded in F-0110
• After investigation if it is found that the received Appeal/Complain is with related to UK Certification and Assessment Ltd certified customer/Customer (of Inspection/Training/), UK Certification and Assessment Ltd investigation team will communicate to customer and take the necessary action to resolve the issue between certified client/Client (of Inspection/Training/) and appealer / complainer. The investigation team shall communicate to Applier/Complainer corrective measure taken and recorded in F-0110
• After investigation if it is found that the received Appeal/complain has no connection with certification activity/Inspection activities/Training Activities/ related activities, it shall be notified to the department concerned on that day and dealt with within 3 working days. The notification of corrective measure of Appeal/Complain is made to Appealer/ Complainer and recorded in F-1100. After satisfactory confirmation from Appealer/ Complainer file is closed.

Communication to Applier/Complainer

• The investigation team communicates the progress of the investigation to the appealer / complainer time to time.
• The Investigation team communicates the decision of corrective action taken to the appealer / complainer
• The investigation team communicates to the appealer / complainer for their consent for acceptance of decision taken by UK Certification and Assessment Ltd.
• if the appealer/complainer agrees with UK Certification and Assessment Ltd decision on Appeal / complain, the investigation team shall notify to appealer/complainer for the closer of appeal/ complain and recorded in F-0110
• - If the appealer/complainer is not agreeing with UK Certification and Assessment Ltd decision on Appeal / complain. The UK Certification and Assessment Ltd will take further necessary action to make it satisfied. And the progress of further re-investigation shall be communicated to concern.

Time limit for investigation and closeout of Appeal/ complain.

The time allowed to complete the investigation and closeout of Appeal/ complain is 30 working days.

If the Investigation time exceeds the period of 30 working days, the same shall be communicated to CEO and appealer/complainer. it shall be recorded in F-110, with justification for the delay in closing or corrective measure establishing.

If Appealer / Complainer is not satisfied with the measures taken against complain/appeal. Further investigation or action shall be completed within the next 30 working days to make satisfied.

6. Arbitration process

• The person/organization isn’t satisfied with the determination of UK Certification and Assessment Ltd appeal /complain handling can raise appeal additionally and this appeal shall be submitted for the Arbitration process officially within 30 days after receiving the determination of appeal /complain Handling.
• This appeal /complain raised shall be submitted to an arbitration process to UALF and all the people interested shall agree to follow the determination of the arbitrator.

7. Complain about the certified client

The valid complain shall be recorded and communicated to concern certified client for further investigation and taking the appropriate corrective action. UK Certification and Assessment Ltd shall request the client to respond to the corrective action and during the surveillance Audit visit, the auditor shall review the same. In a situation where the complaint against the certified client is not resolved or complainer is not agreeing with corrective action taken by a certified client. Then UK Certification and Assessment Ltd shall determine the corrective action against the complain together with certified client and complainant to the extent to resolve the complaint and the resolution shall be made public.

Complain about ISMS Certified Client

The UK Certification and Assessment Ltd shall record the complain as possible nonconformity and ask the certified client organization to submit the Root cause analysis of complain and corrective preventive action report, including any predetermining (or predisposing) factors within the client organization’s ISMS.

The UK Certification and Assessment Ltd Complain Investigation team should satisfy itself that the client organization is using such investigations to develop remedial/corrective action, which should include measures for

• Notification to appropriate authorities if required by regulation
• Restoring conformity
• Preventing recurrence
• Evaluating and mitigating any adverse security incidents and their associated impacts
• Ensuring satisfactory interaction with other components of the ISMS.
• Assessing the effectiveness of the remedial/corrective measures adopted.

The UK Certification and Assessment Ltd shall notify each client organization during the contract review that ISMS is a certified organization to make available to the records of all complaints and corrective action taken in accordance with the requirements of ISO/IEC 27001, when required, by signing the form F-0014.

8. Complain from user of certification

The complaint received from users of certification shall be handled as per the complaint handling procedure explained above.

9. Confidentiality

UK Certification and Assessment Ltd investigation team shall maintain the confidentiality of appeal/ complain, information gained and action taken. As per UK Certification and Assessment Ltd confidentiality policy/procedure.