1. Purpose and scope
Recertification renews the system rather than retiring it. Before the certificate expires, the certification body audits the whole system again, looking at its performance over the whole certification cycle as well as its state on the day. The organisation's own preparation starts with top management reviewing that performance: trends in customer performance, audit findings, problem solving, objectives and improvement over the cycle.
The stage also covers transitions. When a standard is revised, the scheme sets a transition period within which certified organisations must move to the new edition. The organisation compares its clause map with the published changes, plans the work, and agrees with the certification body whether the transition will happen at a surveillance audit, at recertification or at a special audit. Other transitions, such as adding or removing sites, changing scope or moving to another certification body, follow the scheme's rules and need planning so the certificate never lapses.
Record retention matters here more than anywhere. Recertification auditors may ask for records from across the cycle, and customers may require production part approval and other records to be kept for long periods after a part is in production. Archived records must still be readable and retrievable.
12 more sections for registered members.