A promotional presentation developed by BSI directly links the usage of its Entropy software with its third party certification services.
ISO 17021 clause 5.2.9 mandates that accredited certification bodies may not link their marketing to consulting services.
5.2.9 The certification body’s activities shall not be marketed or offered as linked with the activities of an organization that provides management system consultancy. The certification body shall take action to correct inappropriate claims by any consultancy organization stating or implying that certification would be simpler, easier, faster or less expensive if the certification body were used. A certification body shall not state or imply that certification would be simpler, easier, faster or less expensive if a specified consultancy organization were used.
The purpose of the ISO 17021 clause is to prevent third party certification bodies from auditing their own products with a different level of scrutiny, in order to ensure objective assessments. BSI is accredited to ISO 17021 by UKAS, and even promotes the importance of accreditation in the same presentation:
Accreditation is essential for certification bodies such as BSI in order to demonstrate competence and impartiality in auditing and certifying organizations which conform to management system standards.
Oxebridge maintains the marketing and sale of BSI Entropy to BSI certification clients violates this rule, because it puts BSI auditors in the position of assessing BSI software, and has filed a complaint to UKAS on the matter. The complaint was originally filed directly with BSI, but denied by the company, prompting escalation to UKAS.
Of specific concern is the following paragraph in the sales presentation:
If your document handling could be better or if there are shortcoming in your understanding and measurement of KPIs, then the tools in our Business Improvement Software – Powered by BSI Entropy could be the perfect solution. Users report that its features allow them to shorten the time it takes to reach certification by up to 50%.
The paragraph appears on the same slide as that for BSI’s Stage 1 certification auditing, and indicates that the Entropy software is one of a few “BSI Tools which can give you a head start.”
In the original Oxebridge complaint, the linkage between the marketing of BSI Entropy and its certification services was not so overt. The complaint will be updated with the latest information, and the slide presentation added as evidence.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
