Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc. (Intertek) – Suspension of CB Accreditation
Textile Exchange’s assurance program supports the credible and consistent certification of fibers and materials according to the criteria in our suite of standards.
Our assurance system’s auditing and certification processes support a network of certification bodies. These certification bodies are required to conform to our policies and procedures to conduct audits and issue certificates based on assessing conformity with our standards. Accreditation bodies monitor and assess the certification bodies to ensure that they are operating as intended and in conformity with the requirements of our standards system.
As of August 13, 2024, the accreditation body ANSI National Accreditation Board, LLC (ANAB) has taken the decision to accept the voluntary suspension of Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc. (Intertek) relating to certification services for the Organic Content Standard (OCS) in India.
Effective as of July 31, 2024, this suspension halts all OCS-related activities at Intertek’s office in India, including the issuance of scope certificates (SCs) and transaction certificates (TCs) for the OCS while the suspension is in place. ANAB has also clarified that clients of that office cannot be serviced by other Intertek offices at this time.
While Intertek has proposed steps to voluntarily shift the management of its OCS-related activities (such as the issuance of SCs and TCs) from its India office to Intertek offices based in other countries, ANAB’s policy requires further assessment and approval of additional key locations before allowing the management of services from other offices as a viable option. All OCS activities in India are therefore suspended while this review is underway, and ANAB is prepared to assess the additional key locations as soon as possible to minimize impact.
As of today, this voluntary suspension is limited to Intertek’s operations in India related to the OCS only, and no other Textile Exchange standards or geographic regions are affected.
Transaction certificates previously issued by Intertek are still considered valid – unless otherwise notified by Intertek or Textile Exchange. To authenticate a transaction certificate issued by Intertek, please see the Textile Exchange transaction certificate portal.
The Procedure for the Withdrawal of Certification Body Licensing (ASR-112), section D details the requirements for certification bodies to communicate to their certification clients directly regarding how this suspension will impact their certification services.
If you are a certified client of Intertek, you should soon receive their notification. Below are some additional potential next steps and resources to assist you with the process:
- Contact your current certification body for more details regarding how this suspension may impact the certification services you receive.
2. Should you wish to transfer your certification to an alternative certification body, please:
- Note that any such voluntary transfer may require another audit and be subject to its additional costs. See ASR-101-V2.1 section D4.12 for more details.
- Review this page of certification bodies licensed to certify to the relevant Textile Exchange standard(s) in your region and contact them for quotes to become newly certified by them.
- When an organization transfers between certification bodies (from the “preceding certification body” to the “succeeding certification body”, including when the transfer occurs at recertification), the succeeding certification body may issue transaction certificates for shipments from the time when the organization was certified with the preceding certification body, provided that all the conditions of ASR-104-V3.1 Policy for Transaction Certificates, section A8.5 are met. Please contact your certification body for more information.
- Inform the chosen succeeding certification body of the circumstance and provide them a copy of this communication.
3. Please see our FAQ document for more details.
While Textile Exchange is disappointed by this situation and the conditions that will impact site certifications, these circumstances reflect the integrity and consistency of our assurance system. A fundamental part of this system includes entrusting accreditation bodies with independent decision-making. We firmly support any decisions made by ANAB and value the integrity this brings. In turn, this helps to ensure greater credibility of our standards and of the entities that offer auditing and certification services.
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