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Complaint #012: Against Accredited Certification Body
Lodged by Facility regarding the cancellation of its SA8000 certificate

Details of Facility:
-SA8000 Certified Facility
-Manufacturers and exporters of knitted garments
-Karachi, Pakistan
-Certification Body: BVQI

Actions Taken:
February 6, 2006: The complaint was received at the CB’s Head Office along with the facility’s original SA8000 Certificate (as requested by the CB as a result of revoking the Certificate). The facility’s certification had been suspended since August 2005 due to the company’s failure to provide corrective action plans to address the Corrective Actions Requests (CARs) raised during the initial certification audit and subsequent surveillance audit.

On October 11, 2005, the CB had conducted an unannounced audit due to allegations about the company which the CB determined was sufficient justification for such an audit to take place. In December, 2005, the CB cancelled the SA8000 certificate for failure, on the part of the company, to take appropriate actions mandated by the certification body.

The facility lodged their grievance to the CB by claiming that it was only in the developing stage of implementation and dismissed the CB’s decision to revoke certification by claiming the certification body acted in an unprofessional manner.

March 2, 2006: SAI requested updates from the CB.

March 13, 2006: A formal investigation of the appeal was completed by the CB.

March 21, 2006: SAI received an Incident Report from the CB. The report did not agree with the accusations put forth by the facility and provided supporting evidence that the noncompliances cited had been accepted by the facility and no corrective action plan had been developed, and therefore cancellation of the SA8000 certificate was required.

May 26, 2006: SAI inquired about the certification body’s decision to revoke the SA8000 certificate and requested further updates on this issue. The certification body will not reinstate the SA8000 certificate unless the company demonstrates significant progress in implementing corrective action. The CB considered the matter closed.

July 24, 2006: SAI conducted a surveillance audit of the CB’s Pakistan office and reviewed the complaint file. The actions taken by CB throughout the facility’s appeal process were reviewed and found to be acceptable. The complaint is now closed.