Our Complaints and Appeals Procedure

We consider all our relationships with our clients to be partnerships, so we are happy to accept complaints and appeals that require investigation.

You, as a client or another interested party, may appeal a certification decision made by Citation Certification, or make a complaint about us or one of our clients. This should be done by formally notifying your local Citation Certification office in writing.

The appeal should contain as much information as possible, describing the original certification decision and the reasons for your appeal.

Citation Certification has a detailed policy outlining our complaints and appeals process. In the interest of effective resolution and transparency, all complaints are investigated and recorded. In the event that any dispute or complaint cannot be fully and satisfactorily resolved, it will be referred to a relevant third-party accreditation body for further examination and mediation. If you have any questions regarding the Citation Certification complaints and appeals process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Complaints and appeals process

    1. The Citation Certification office that receives the complaint or appeal immediately passes the notification on to the Citation Certification head office for investigation.
    2. Head office staff pass every complaint and appeal to the Executive General Manager Certification or the Certification and Technical Manager for initial investigation.

Upon completion of the initial investigation, Citation Certification’s Executive General Manager Certification or the Certification and Technical Manager contacts the original party to notify them of the initial findings and whether they agree that a full investigation is warranted or whether they believe, based on the initial evidence, that no further investigation or action is required.

Any complaint about a certified client is communicated to the client after Citation Certification has conducted the initial investigation.

  1. All notifications, whether they are deemed to require further investigation or not, are recorded internally by the Citation Certification head office as a QPR (Quality Problem Report). Copies of all relevant documentation – including notifications, investigations and decisions – are attached to the internal record for evidence and assessment.
  2. If further investigation is required, the Executive General Manager Certification or the Certification and Technical Manager conducts all necessary internal investigations, interviews, assessments or any other necessary methods to provide a conclusive response and corrective actions to the originator of the notification.
  3. All complaints and appeals are reviewed by the Citation Certification Advisory Board, who may appoint an independent and impartial appeals panel to investigate any complaint that they feel has not been dealt with properly by management. The decision of such a panel must be implemented and may not be vetoed by Citation Certification management.
  4. Accreditation bodies, such as JAS-ANZ, are notified if a complaint or appeal remains unresolved between Citation Certification and the originator for more than three months. An appeal of a certification decision will not result in any discriminatory actions against the client by Citation Certification.
  5. If a complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of the complaints handling process, they may refer the complaint to the relevant accreditation body, such as JAS-ANZ.
  6. When appropriate, Citation Certification will determine, with the complainant and the certified client, whether and to what extent the complaint and its resolution is to be made public.