Kay, Carol, Andrew et al.,

I found the ‘special invitation’ meeting on Feb 3^rd interesting but lacking in substance as to how Kantara’s proposed Certification Body (KCB) is actually going to function.  I say this as one who has a long term participation in and care for KI in all its phases and of course particularly from my perspective as a presently-Approved Assessor. 

It would be helpful to have a clearer exposition of the relationship between the KI Board, KCB, the ARB, the IAWG and the scheme(s) against which it proposes to offer certification audit services.  In discussions to date I sense suggestions that IS17065 imposes certain requirements which, with some experience of IS17065 and ISO standards in particular, I feel are a bit of a stretch.  These need to be fully in the open.  A schematic would be very helpful (for the sake of discussion/comparison I attach the one I produced in late 2020 as part of the substantial work I undertook obo KI re. IS17065 accreditation).  I’m not suggesting this is the only way to establish a CB worthy of accreditation under, but it’s the kind of product which I think would be hugely useful).

What I also think would be of great value to Assessors in particular but nonetheless, I would anticipate, to a wider audience, would be the proposals for, inter alia:

a) determining the eligibility of auditors and the contractual arrangements for auditors;

b) how audit costs will be determined and what role in that auditors will have;

c) the duration of audits, etc.

Also, noting much confusion during this week’s IAWG call about what are the provisions IS17065 I’m requesting that copy of the standard be made available without undue delay to all interested Kantara parties.  Yes, this may be a technical breach of ISO copyright, depending on the form of licence held by Kantara, but it is important that all involved have the means to understand its requirements and entitlements, and let’s face it, only KI actually needs the standard for the purposes of implementation.  We’ve previously shared ISO documents amongst KI participants for informational/review purposes so we could surely do that again?

Having some in-depth sessions and access to the standard without delay would, I am sure, be very much appreciated by all KI members and perhaps iron out any misconceptions.

I have addressed this to the IAWG since IS17065 accreditation was a hot topic during this week’s call, and I believe that list includes all who participated in the Feb 3^rd call.  In full disclosure, I am also forwarding this to those KI Board members with whom I have a 1-1 relationship.  The Board needs to understand the concerns that exist and also should have access to 17065 to help them make their own determinations on this topic.

I’d also like to stress the point that any present work on the IAWG Charter should be a completely independent exercise to anything to do with IS17065, since we’re probably only third-guessing (not even second) what the final KCB roll-out will be.  The Charter should deal with the present organisational arrangements.  It would be misguided to try to mix the two activities.

Regards,

Richard G. WILSHER
CEO & Founder,  Zygma Inc.
www.Zygma.biz
+1 714 797 9942