Section 08 – Certificate of Quality

Introduction

Preamble

The ICAR Certificate of Quality programme was established by the 2006 ICAR General Assembly. It replaced the earlier use of the permanent ICAR Special Stamp, which became invalid by 2009.

Purpose

The purpose of the ICAR certificate of quality is to support ICAR member organisations in maintaining a high quality of service in those fields of activity that ICAR has guidelines for or are otherwise within the scope of the work of ICAR, and to ensure continuous improvement in service quality.

Benefits

The benefits of the ICAR Certificate of Quality to member organisations include:

1. A unique mark that identifies product and service quality for customers which meets or exceeds the published ICAR guidelines
2. A marketing tool for organisations which will identify their conformance with internationally recognised standards
3. A time-sensitive approval period which will ensure to customers that the service provider has routinely met the ICAR criteria thereby providing enhanced confidence in the quality of service or product received.
4. A mark of the demonstrated leadership of ICAR in the international marketplace through the provision of value-added services for its members.
5. An advisory review carried out by independent experts.

Definitions and Terminology

Table 1 contains a list of important definitions for terms and abbreviations used in these guidelines.

Table 1. Definitions of terms used in these guidelines.

Term	Definition
Applicant	The ICAR member organisation that requests certification for services available on the market.
Audit	An external survey of the work of the applicant.
Auditor	The external specialist who surveys the work of the applicant.
CE	Chief Executive of ICAR
CoQ	ICAR Certificate of Quality.
Consultative review (CR)	A review made on paper 30 months after certification.
Expert advisory group (EAG)	The group who develops and runs the Certificate of Quality programme.
Field of activity (FoA)	Business area for which ICAR certification is available.
Key performance indicator (KPI)	A measurable value that demonstrates how effectively an organisation is achieving key service quality objectives.
Standard operating procedure (SOP)	A set of step-by-step instructions compiled by the organisation to help workers and customers carry out complex routine operations.

Scope

Figure 1 gives a pictorial summary of the main elements of this guideline.

In summary, Section 8  of the ICAR Guidelines covers the procedures from the submission of the application by a member  through to the  awarding of the ICAR Certificate of Quality.

Figure 1. The scope of this Guideline.

Sub-sections

The expert advisory group

The fields of activity available for certification

Certification requests