Updates to the official IAQG OASIS database show multiple certification bodies have begun to honor an official mandate that Russian firms be stripped of their AS9100 certifications, but Quality Austria continues to refuse to comply with the rule.
As of March 30, the OASIS database shows the Bureau Veritas took immediate action to suspend all but three AS9100 certificates issued to clients in Russia. Similar actions were taken by DNV-GL, BSI, and TUV SUD.
Most of the AS9100 certificates granted to Russian companies were issued by Quality Austria, and that certification body has still refused to suspend any of its clients in the country. Quality Austria has allowed its name and logo to be used prominently in marketing materials published by the Putin regime, and has openly supported companies listed in international sanctions. To date, Quality Austria has made no public statements on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Quality Austria has been mired in scandal, largely under the leadership of Eckehard Bauer. In 2019 whistleblowers uncovered a decade or more of conflicts of interest and accreditation violations, as the Qatar office of Quality Austria was found issuing certificates to its own consulting clients. Quality Austria then certified its own consulting body. Later, it was reported that Bauer and an auditor from Akkreditierung Austria were bribed with “five-star vacations” in order to overlook the scandals. The Qatar office paid for the travel expenses for a “female companion” for the Akkreditierung Austria auditor. That case has now been put before an Austrian criminal court.
Quality Austria then repeated the scenario in Russia, certifying its own regional office, and then certifying the consulting clients of that office.
In 2021, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Oxebridge filed an official complaint against Quality Austria for certifying its own partner, Rostec, which was under existing sanctions from Russia’s 2016 invasion of Crimea. Quality Austria ignored the complaint, which was then escalated to IAQG via OASIS. IAQG has also refused to process the complaint, twice closing it without action.
ironically, Bauer’s title includes executive duties over “risk, security and compliance.”
In violation of IAF rules and EU regulation EC-765-2008, Akkreditierung Austria has refused to process any complaints against Quality Austria.
The IAF has refused to take any action against Akkreditierung Austria, which pays fees to IAF in order to maintain membership.
Other CBs who have not yet suspended their Russian clients include Russian Register, TUV NORD, TUV Rheinland, DQS, and Dekra, but these represent a small fraction of the total certificates issued in Russia.
UPDATE 5 April 2022: All AS9100 certificates in OASIS now show as “suspended,” including those of Quality Austria. Read more here.
