Complaints and Appeals
Guidelines

Reserved forCB logo

1 Purpose
The current guideline helps CBs to establish and publish its formal process to deal with complaints
and appeals in a fair, impartial, confidential and constructive manner. The process shall ensure that
all complaints and appeals are handled and processed within a 3-month period from the date ofreceipt of a written complaint or appeal. The process shall also comply with all the provisions ofsection 9.6 of the IPMA ICR 4.01.

2 Appeal
Definition: Appeal is a formal request for reconsiderations or review of a decision made by a CB.
Who can appeal:An Applicant, if his or her application was not accepted;

A Candidate, if he or she hasn’t successfully completed one of the assessment steps or if,
after completion of all assessment steps, the CB decided not to award with an IPMAcertificate. No further evidence of competence shall be accepted as part of the appeal.

How to appeal: The appeal shall be send to spm_cb@spm.or.jp
When: Appeals must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the decision being appealed.
Fees: CB may ask for appeal fees. In this case, those fees shall be explicit and communicated toapplicants. Fees will be applicable after reception of a valid appeal and refunded to applicant orcandidate if the appeal’s decision is favourable to the appellant.
CB process steps and responsibilities are shown in the table below.
Table 1. CB process steps dealing with appeals
Responsibility

Process steps

Results

Applicant or
CandidateSubmitted appeal of a CB decision within 30
calendar days of the decision being appealed.

Appeal received by CBadministration

CBadministration

Review the appeal validity:

To the appellant:

If the appellant is an applicant or candidate;If the decision referred in the appeal has
been made in the last 30 calendar days;
If one of be above clauses is not verified, theappeal is not accepted.
CB administration shall:
Record the appeal (even the ones notvalid);

Page 1 of 3

confirmation of receipt



non-acceptance
explanation

OrTo CB ‘Certification Manager’
with acknowledge to the Headof CB

Send a confirmation of receipt of a valid
appeal or acknowledged explaining whythe appeal in not valid;Send valid appeal to CB ‘Certification
Manager’;Invoice fees, if applicable

CB ‘Certification
Manager’The CB ‘Certification Manager’ shall first try toresolve the appeal within its own operational
management.
In the first instance, it is proposed to the candidatea review of results between the applicant/candidate and the Lead Assessor of his/hercertification process or step. If theapplicant/candidate does not agree with thejustifications, the appeal will be escalated to theHead of CB and CB Complaints and Appeals
Committee for review and decision.
CB ‘Certification Manager’ shall prepare a package
to “CB Complaints and Appeals Committee”. This
package shall include all evidences supporting theCB decision, including the list of assessors who
provide evaluation / scoring.

Applicant pack to CB
Complaints and Appeals
CommitteeOr
CB administration with theresolution made in CB
operational level

CB Complaintsand Appeals
Committee

The members of the Complaints and Appeals
committee shall be appointed by the CB’s strategic
management and shall not have been involved in
the appeal that is being made.
CB Complaints and Appeals Committee shallreview if documented policies and procedures of
CB were followed and if the assessment of theappellant’s competence has been done based on afair and impartial assessment.
Appeal results shall be send to appellant.
If the appeal leads to discover a failure in CB
assessment process, the CB shall inform IPMA of
any Adverse Effect and take all reasonable steps
to:To the appellant:CBadministration

identify any other Candidate who has been
affected by the failure;correct or, where it cannot be corrected,
mitigate as far as possible both Adverseand other effects of the failure; and

ensure that the failure does not recur in thefuture.

All appeal results shall be recorded.
If applicable, fees shall be refunded.
Ensures that the all process is concluded within 30
calendar days.
If appellant doesn’t agree with the appeal result, CB
shall provide IPMA contact for escalation process.

Page 2 of 3 Appeal result
To CB administration
Appeal result copy

Decision to refund fees
(if applicable)
CB ‘Certification Manager’

Any improvement orcorrective action
If required, inform IPMA(CVMB)

3 Complaint
Definition: Complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction by an individual or organization to a CB.
The complaint may be related with any person or situation involved in the certification process.
Who sends a complaint: There are no restrictions. Any person can present a complaint against aCB.
How to complain: The complaints shall be send to spm_cb@spm.or.jp
When: There are no date restrictions.
Fees: No fees are applicable
CB process steps and responsibilities are shown in the table below.
Table 2. CB process steps dealing with complaints
Responsibility

CBadministration

Process steps

Results

Submitted a complaint

Complaint received by CB
administration

CB administration shall:

Send confirmation of receipt



Record the complaint;

Send a confirmation of receipt;

Send complaint to CB ‘CertificationManager’

To CB ‘Certification Manager’:

CB ‘Certification
Manager’ andHead of CB

The CB ‘Certification Manager’ shall first try toresolve the complaint within the operational
management level.
If it’s not possible, then the Certification Manager
shall send the complaint to the CB Complaints andAppeals Committee

Complaint to CB Complaintsand Appeals Committee
OrCB administration with theresolutionCB Complaintsand Appeals
Committee

The members of the Complaints and Appeals
committee shall be appointed by the CB’s strategic
management and shall not have been involved in
the complaint that is being made, not one of thepersons focus on the complaint neither one
assessor involved on the activity base of thecomplaint.
CB Complaints and Appeals Committee shallreview the complaint and decide if a corrective
action shall be implemented. the action to take.

To the complaint:CBadministration

All complaint results shall be recorded.
Ensures that the all process is concluded within 30
calendar days.

Page 3 of 3

 Complaint result
To CB administration
 Complaint result copy
CB ‘Certification Manager’

Any improvement or
corrective action