Accreditation agency to pull certifications

Kenya Acreditations Service Chief Executive officer Martin Chesire

An accreditation agency has warned that firms and organisations that will not have renewed their certification by tomorrow must remove logos of respective industry standards from their products.

In August, Kenya Accreditation Service (Kenas) under the Ministry of Trade gave organisations until September 15 to change to ISO 9001 on Quality Management and ISO 14001 on Environmental Management standards.

In an interview with the Weekend Business, Kenas Chief Executive Martin Chesire said the ISO 9001 (2008 edition) and ISO 14001 (2004) expired last month and stand withdrawn.

He said the agency had put out information for the public, businesses, regulators and procuring entities on the valid and legitimate ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications and warned that those who do not meet the requirement must inform their clients that they were not updated.

“All certified organisations who will lose their certifications should return their certificates and inform their clients. They should remove any claims of certification like marks, logos including in corporate stationery, marketing materials, websites, social media and other branding in building and vehicles,” said Mr Chesire.

He warned that such firms would be breaking the law if they included the expired documents as part of contractual requirements.

“If a regulator agency accepts the certification as part of its compliance framework or alternative measure, then it means the organisation will not meet the regulations and will be doing that illegally,” said the CEO.

Already, 62 per cent of organisations certified have transitioned to the new editions of the ISO standards before the deadline in a process begun in 2015.

The move, Chesire said, was meant to ensure that Kenya has a modern and internationally recognised systems for accreditation, measurement and standardisation.

“Kenas, which was established in 2009, is now effectively playing its oversight role with respect to certification, laboratories and inspections activities. I expect them to enhance their activities and to fully deliver on their mandate as the “checker of checkers,” he added.

“The standards act as critical enablers and drivers to our national growth and development.”