The Romanian accreditation body RENAR has suspended the accreditation of the Indian certification body Generic Management Services Pty Ltd (GMS) for ninety days, in response to an Oxebridge complaint that showed GMS was using the RENAR and IAF logos on potentially fraudulent ISO 9001 certificates. In one case, GMS was discovered to have issued an ISO 9001 certificate to a company in Connecticut that it never audited; the certificate also falsely claims the recipient company is a manufacturing firm, when in fact it is an ISO 9001 consulting house.
Despite being located in India, GMS did not receive accreditation from the Indian accreditation body NABCB, but instead RENAR of Romania. Since both RENAR and NABCB are signatories to the International Accreditation Forum’s agreements, they worked together to investigate GMS.
RENAR suspended GMS’ accreditation for three months, which prohibits them from issuing ISO 9001 or related certifications during that period. According to official documents, GMS CEO Brijesh Kumar did not respond to any of the parties during the investigation, resulting in the 90-day suspension. If GMS continues to ignore the problem and refuses to take proper corrective action, it is likely they will be permanently de-accredited. At press time, the GMS website continues to show the RENAR and IAF logos.
Lax adherence to IAF and international accreditation rules is a problem in India, where NABCB has resorted to hiring private detectives to monitor the compliance of certification bodies in the region. By choosing to use a Romanian accreditation body, GMS might escape such oversight.
In a related story, GMS has apparently copied the design of competing registrar Bureau Veritas’ ISO 9001 certificates, having only changed the color scheme and adding their own logo over that of BV. Bureau Veritas has been notified.
