Impartiality and Appeals Process

Impartiality

As an accredited Certification Body, Mérieux NutriSciences Certification LLC fully endorses the principle of impartiality as a fundamental platform to demonstrate that all decisions in the audit and certification process are based on objective evidence of conformity and are not improperly influenced by other interests or by other parties. In this regard, the following protocols are in place:

• Auditors are required to sign a conflict of interest declaration for each audit conducted
• Auditors are rotated based upon scheme requirements but at a minimum of every 3 years
• Audit reports are reviewed by a technical reviewer who was not part of the original audit team
• Certification decisions are made by an individual independent of the audit process
• An advisory council comprised of industry stakeholders has been formed and is available to review any conflicts and risks.

Complaints & Appeals

Our complaint process begins with the receipt of information from the stakeholder. Upon receiving this information, our compliance team will verify receipt through return email and will initiate the investigation process. The initial investigation is expected to be completed within 15 working days and may involve requests for additional information/details, telephone conversations, or additional on-site assessments, depending upon the situation. After completing the investigation a written response will be provided to the stakeholder outlining the results.

If you have a complaint or appeal to the lodge, please forward it to certification.au@mxns.com 

Publicising your certification and audit results

You may post and share your certificate or audit participation document in its entirety. Any other use of these documents, including cropping, modifying or using the MNCertification logo is not permitted. Individual scheme owner requirements must also be followed for any use of their logos or information.

If you wish to promote your certification or audit in ways other than by posting the participation document or scheme approved logos, please send proofs of any mentions about your certification or audit prior to its posting or distribution to certification.au@mxns.com for approval. MNCertification reserves the right to edit any mentions of the Mérieux NutriSciences brand prior to printing or posting information.