According to OASIS data, the accreditation of AS9100 registrars Intertek, Lloyds Register QA (LRQA) and SGS were suspended.<\/p>\n
In the cases of Intertek, SGS and LRQA’s UK operations, the suspension was cited as due to “nonpayment of invoices.” The suspensions of SGS and LRQA UK were lifted a day later, presumably after the registrars paid their bills. Intertek remains suspended as of this report, even as their AS9100 website<\/a>\u00a0continues to market accredited AS9100 certification services.<\/p>\n A suspension remains in effect for LRQA’s Japan operations, based on a suspension originally handed down in October of 2017. The reasons for that suspension are not clear.<\/p>\n The suspensions raise the question of whether certification clients of such registrars can hold them accountable for a failure to provide reliable, ongoing accreditation; if not, legal remedies may be available to clients of suspended registrars. Clients often have to incur costs and reputational damage when their certification is withdrawn\u00a0due to the registrar’s errors or omissions; a loss of accreditation may also be viewed as a breach of contract. ISO 17021 requires\u00a0accredited registrars to have sufficient financial resources in place to ensure such disruptions do not happen, meaning such lapses are also a violation of overall accreditation rules.<\/p>\n Even a 24-hour suspension means, effectively, the AS9100 clients of the registrars were in possession of an unaccredited certificate for that time period.<\/p>\n