Consideration of complaints and appeals

Terms

1.1 This documented procedure regulates the process and deadlines for consideration of complaints and appeals. It provides an opportunity for aggrieved or aggrieved (interested) parties to submit a complaint or appeal to a body (individual(s), group or committee) that must be bound by contractual obligations to the certification body (CO) (for example, an employee) or to be part of its organizational and staff structure (for example, the Committee).

When filing a complaint or appeal, the Company requires the person who filed the complaint or appeal to provide a clear description of the nature of the complaint or appeal, as well as the name and contact information of the applicant.

1.2. In order to make independent and objective decisions regarding the complaints of interested parties, as well as appeals against certification decisions made by the Company, the Company may create an independent Appeals Committee (CA), whose experts did not participate in the assessment of the complainant/appeal and did not make decisions about certification.

1.3. Decisions on appeals and complaints are issued by the CA in writing.

1.4 Complaints and appeals regarding certification are registered in the Journal of registration of received complaints and appeals.

1.5 The company maintains the anonymity of the person who submitted the complaint or appeal to the client, the PEFC Council, the NSLDS and FSC®, if the applicant has clearly indicated this in his application. If there is no such instruction, the Company will ask the applicant about it. The applicant’s failure to respond to the Company’s request will always be considered a “declaration of anonymity” unless the applicant indicates otherwise in the future.

1.6 The Company also considers anonymous complaints and expressions of dissatisfaction, unsupported by evidence, comments of interested parties and considers them during the next audit of the Client.

1.7 When accepting and considering complaints or appeals:

a) upon initial receipt of the application, the Company notifies the applicant within 5 (five) days of acceptance or refusal to accept the complaint/appeal.
b) in case of acceptance of a complaint/appeal and within 14 days from the date of its receipt, the Company shall provide a response, including a brief description of the intended course of action of the certification body to respond to the complaint/appeal.
c) in the presence of decisions of the Company, including in the presence of information on the progress of consideration of applications, the Company informs the party(ies) that submitted the complaint(s)/appeal(s) about the progressof its consideration;
d) the decision adopted on the complaint/appeal must be issued no later than 3 (three) months from the date of its receipt and contain all the expected procedures (actions to respond to the complaint or appeal);
e) The company informs the party that submitted a complaint/appeal when it is considered closed, which means that the certification body has collected and verified all necessary information, investigated the allegations, made a decision on the complaint and responded to the applicant.

1.8 The decision regarding the submitted complaint or appeal is reviewed and approved by the person(s) who did not participate in the assessment related to the complaint or appeal.

1.9 The Company informs the applicant that he, as the party that filed the relevant complaint, has the right to refer it to ASI for consideration, if the matter has not been resolved by the Company by applying all its own procedures or if the party that filed the complaint does not agree with the conclusions of the certification body and/or dissatisfied with the way the certification body handled the complaint. In extreme cases, the complaint can be forwarded to FSC^®, PEFC.

2 Consideration of complaints

2.1 If there are grounds, the interested party should carry out the procedure below by submitting a complaint directly to the Company in the name of the Director of the Company and/or the client of the Company.

2.2 The applicant can be any person who participates in the certification process or is interested in the results of the certification conducted by the certification body.

2.3 The applicant submits a complaint directly to the Director, in which:

– the subject of the complaint is explained;

– potential parties to the conflict are determined;

– the applicant’s participation in the events that preceded the application and caused the complaint to the certification body is described;

– expresses an obligation, based on the Company’s decision, to deposit a reasonable amount of funds established by the Company, which will be used to cover the costs of considering the complaint or be returned to the applicant.

2.4 The Deputy Quality Director of the Company registers the complaint and carries out its initial review within 5 days from the moment of its receipt, after which it notifies the applicant in writing using the contact information specified in the complaint itself and the method by which the relevant application was received.

The Deputy Quality Director of the Company determines the person or group of responsible persons who will consider the received complaint. At the same time, the responsible person cannot be involved in the certification evaluation process related to the complaint/appeal.

2.5 The person who examines the complaint has the right to reject a complaint that does not meet the requirements of clause 2.3 of this documented procedure. The refusal must be in writing, with an explanation of the reason for the refusal and an indication of the possibility of their elimination and how the admitted shortcomings can be corrected.

When a complaint is accepted for consideration, the party that filed it is notified about it, indicating the terms and process of its consideration.

2.6 The decision to refuse to accept a complaint as not meeting the requirements for its submission can be appealed by sending the appropriate appeal directly through the Company. This process can be carried out by the applicant within 10 days from the date of sending the corresponding response to the complaint.

2.7 When making a decision to consider a complaint, the person (a) who considers it has the right to choose the method and order of its consideration at his own discretion.

2.8 The Deputy Director of Quality may decide on the formation of the Appeals Committee (CA) to consider a complex appeal, which concerns the interests of a large number of persons who participated in the assessment and/or made the certification decision, as well as a large number of interested parties. At the same time, the notification of the acceptance of the complaint and the description of the process of its review indicate the composition of the CA that will consider it or inform about the decision and the principles of its formation.

2.9 If during the consideration of the submitted complaint the parties reach an agreement on the settlement of the complaint in whole or in part, then an agreement is signed between the parties on the methods, terms and other conditions of its settlement. This agreement is approved by the Director of the Company and is subject to execution by the parties. In the agreement, the parties may specify which parts of the agreement, if necessary, should be disclosed to other interested parties and/or the public.

2.10 For a decision on a complaint, it is allowed to request the party against whom the complaint was filed to provide its position on the complaint, which can be considered for decision-making, or to initiate an additional unscheduled field audit, if the complaint is filed against the Client and/or the auditor in connection in connection with the relevant audit of the Client.

An additional unscheduled audit can be conducted simultaneously with a scheduled audit, expanding its scope. At the same time, it is advisable to involve a leading auditor in the audit, who has not previously participated in the certification of this Client. At the same time, based on the results of such an audit, a report is prepared, in which the auditor describes in detail the essence of the complaint, the measures taken as part of the audit, and his recommendation regarding the decision on the complaint – whether or not to recognize the complaint as well-founded. If necessary, the Client may be issued with non-conformities, which must be eliminated.

2.11 In the event that a complaint was filed against any person, an employee of the Company, including non-staff, but performing functions related to the certification assessment, the review of this complaint is carried out by the Deputy Quality Director of the Company in the form of a direct dialogue with the applicant . If the Parties to the dialogue do not reach a mutual solution, the complaint is subject to official consideration in the prescribed manner.

2.12 After the decision on the complaint is made, this decision with its detailed justification is delivered to the parties. The Company and the parties to the complaint jointly determine to what extent the decision on the complaint should be communicated to other interested parties and/or the public (by means of a newsletter on the Company’s website or by placing additional information on the web page https://www.facebook.com/ lis.expert.

2.13 In case of disagreement of any of the parties in connection with the complaint with the rendered decision, the interested party has the right to file an appeal to challenge the decision on the complaint.

3 Appeals Committee (AC)

3.1 AC is an independent, independent decision-making body, which is established to perform the function of decision-making on complaints of interested parties and appeals.

In its activities, the AC is guided by this procedure. Issues of the Appeals Committee’s activities, which are not regulated by this documented procedure, are resolved taking into account the requirements of independence and objectivity of the opinion of the AC members who participate in decision-making.

AC decisions should not lead to discriminatory effects on the person who filed the appeal.

3.2 Functions of the AC:

Consideration of complaints from interested parties and appeals against the Company’s certification decisions regarding applicants or certificate holders.
Consideration of appeals against decisions on complaints, the consideration of which was conducted by the Company in accordance with the established procedure.
Keeps protocols on the work of the AC.
Recommendations for improving the Company’s procedures related to the procedure for considering complaints and appeals.

3.3 The AC is formed based on the requirements for the personal composition of the AC and consists of an odd number of natural persons (one or 3 members depending on the complexity of the appeal):

Members of the AC meet the following requirements:

having a completed higher education;
competence in matters of forestry management and forest industry (this competence is mandatory according to the specifics of appeals related to the specified areas);
competence in matters of voluntary forest certification;
financial or legal independence from the company and from other certification bodies (receiving legal remuneration is not considered such dependence);
non-participation in the process of conducting certification assessments of the Client related to a complaint or appeal;
non-participation in the process of making a decision regarding the certification of the Client related to the complaint or appeal;
compliance with the requirements of confidentiality, non-admission of commercial interests or conflicts of interest during the performance of one’s duties (a relevant agreement must be signed).

3.4 The composition of the AC is formed to consider complaints received and accepted for consideration from interested parties, and appeals by the Director of the Company from among candidates who meet the requirements listed in this procedure.

3.5 In the case of consideration of an appeal by the AC, before the beginning of each meeting, the members of the Committee elect a Chairman from among its members. Committee members elect the Chairman by voting with a simple majority of votes from the total number of Committee members.

3.6 Committee members are obliged to:

comprehensively and fully participate in the work of the AC;
attend AC meetings;
to inform about the existence of a conflict of interests regarding this or that decision of the AC;
avoid actions that could compromise the competence of the AC and call into question the professionalism of its members.

4 Review of appeals

4.1 Before applying to the AC, the applicant must complete the above-mentioned procedure for filing a complaint or file an independent appeal against an already adopted decision. Appeals, as in the case of complaints, are submitted through the Company marked “Appeal”.

4.2 The applicant can be an official of the applicant or certificate holder in the certification system who wishes to protest the certification decision made by the Company (decision to refuse to issue a certificate, suspend the validity of a certificate, revoke a certificate, change the certification area);

Filing an appeal does not result in the automatic termination of the issued certification decision or the decision on the complaint.

4.3 The applicant, submitting an appeal:

– outlines the subject of the appeal;

– cites the rationale for disagreement with the contested decision;

– declares the obligation to sign a document (agreement, declaration or other document) on the confidentiality of information during the review of the appeal;

– expresses an obligation, based on the Company’s decision, to deposit a reasonable amount of funds established by the Company, which will be used to cover the costs of processing the application or be returned to the applicant.

4.4 The application must:

– to determine the party in respect of which it is submitted or the parties involved in the proceedings, their postal addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, other contact details;

– contain an outline of the subject of the dispute;

– describe the decisions that were made at the time of filing the dispute and other results of contacts and hearings that took place between the parties to the disputed legal relationship;

– describe the interest of the applicant party in the settlement of the dispute and the reason for applying to the AC;

– contain a duly certified consent of the applicant regarding consideration of the submitted application by the AC;

– to propose solutions for discussion in the AC;

– be signed by an authorized person with an attachment of evidence of such authority;

– include annexes containing documentary or other evidence on which the appeal is based and lists listing such evidence and/or documents.

4.5 The appeal must be filed within 30 days from the date of the relevant decision giving rise to the appeal or within the specified time from the date when such event became or should have become known to the interested party.

4.6 The appeal is filed in the name of the Director of the Company. The appeal is submitted to the Deputy Director of Quality for registration within 5 days from the moment of its receipt and organization of consideration of its AC.

4.7 The Deputy Quality Director of the Company has the right to reject an appeal that does not meet the requirements of clause 4.4 of this procedure. The refusal must be in writing, with an explanation of the reason for the refusal and with instructions on the possibility of their elimination and how the admitted shortcomings can be corrected.

The notification of the refusal to consider the appeal or the decision to accept it for consideration and the term of consideration of the appeal shall be made in writing and sent to the applicant at the addresses indicated in the appeal and in the manner in which the relevant application was received.

4.8 The decision to refuse to accept an appeal as ineligible may be appealed by sending a second appeal directly through the Company.

4.9 If the appeal meets all the requirements, the Deputy Director for Quality will organize its review by the AC, including forming the composition of the AC and organizing the transfer of all necessary materials for consideration of the application to the AC.

4.10 The AC must render a decision within 3 months from the date of receipt of the appeal accepted for consideration.

4.11 Draft decisions made by the AC must be sent to the parties who participated in the review and signed a confidentiality agreement within 5 days from the date of the decision for comments.

Comments on draft decisions must be prepared and submitted to the Company within 5 working days.

AC will consider the comments and make a final decision. Summaries of comments are provided to the commenting party with the final decision.

4.12 AC decisions containing conclusions about the presence of any inconsistencies in the Company’s certification system are reviewed by the Company’s management in accordance with the requirements of the instruction on prevention or correction of identified inconsistencies. Any inconsistencies detected by the AC in the activities of the certificate holder, in respect of which a corresponding decision was made, are considered by the Company in accordance with its certification system.

4.13 If any party is not satisfied with the decision of the Appeals Committee, the interested party participating in the review of the dispute may apply for review of the dispute directly to ASI and the owner of the certification system in accordance with the established procedures of the said bodies.

5 Commitment to reasonable cooperation

5.1 Persons involved in any proceeding initiated pursuant to this procedure shall reasonably cooperate with both CA, the Company, and other parties to resolve the dispute.

5.2 The obligation of reasonable cooperation includes the following conditions:

– signing a non-disclosure agreement.

– obligation to timely, no later than 48 hours from the moment of the relevant request, provide any information and documentation or provide access to the CA or the person considering the complaint to conduct a survey of persons who have or potentially have information necessary for considering the application.

– conducting negotiations on resolving disputes in a spirit of goodwill.

– adjustments when performing any of the procedures in accordance with this procedure.

6 Conflict of interest

6.1 If, at any time during the handling of a complaint or appeal, in accordance with this procedure, any person believes that his participation in the handling of the complaint or appeal violates the principle of impartiality, which both the Companies and the members of the AC must be guided by in making decisions, such person must immediately notify the Company’s Deputy Director of Quality and temporarily withdraw from further participation in the process.

6.2 The parties to the complaint or appeal may object to the participation of any person involved in the complaint or appeal if such participation would violate the principle of impartiality that should guide decision-making. The parties may express their objections in the form of a written request addressed to the Company.

6.3 In the cases provided for in clauses 6.1–6.2, it is possible to remove or self-remove individual persons from participating in the consideration of a complaint or appeal.

6.4 If, as a result of one or more removals or disqualifications, the AC is deprived of the legal quorum necessary to consider the dispute, the Deputy Director for Quality may:

or to appoint another member in place of the disqualified one;
or suspend further consideration of the issue and refer it directly to the committee of the relevant certification system;
in any case where, due to disqualification and withdrawal, the remaining members of the AC are required to act with less than is necessary for a quorum, the AC may continue, provided that the remaining members or a member who has
not been disqualified participate in dispute resolution.