Complaints & Appeals
EGYCERT receives and handles complaints and appeals from any interested party that relate to its certification activities, according to the requirements laid down in ISO 17065. All Complaints and appeals received, are recorded and evaluated by EGYCERT in order to reach a fair resolution. Complaints and Appeals are handled by EGYCERT personnel who has not been involved in the certification activities related to the complaint or appeal. After the submission of the complaint or appeal, EGYCERT shall acknowledge its receipt, by sending a confirmation communication to the complainant or the appealant. After EGYCERT takes a decision to resolve a complaint or appeal, it shall send a formal notification to the complainant or the appealant explaining the outcome of the process. During the evaluation of a complaint or appeal, EGYCERT shall take any necessary action in order to fairly and effectively resolve the case. In every case, the Operators (Firms and Farms) involved, shall promptly and fully cooperate with EGYCERT until the complaint or appeal is resolved.
Complaints maybe submitted to EGYCERT by any interested party, such as operators subject to the organic control system, importers, control bodies, competent authorities, consumers, associations etc. addressing issues that relate to the integrity of organic products certified by EGYCERT or regarding actions of operators subject to its control system.
As a special case, EU OFIS (European Union Organic Farming Information System) notifications are handled as complaints, respecting the timeframes and the requirements set by the European Commission via the on-line OFIS System.
Complaints are received by EGYCERT in written form via e-mails, or any other possible means, preferably by submitting the available on-line Complaint Form. EGYCERT shall reach a decision about the resolution of a complaint within maximum 30 days, or sooner if there is such a requirement from any Competent Authority
EGYCERT clients have the right to appeal against EGYCERT decisions, within 15 days starting from the date of receiving the decision.
Before submitting an appeal, operators - clients shall have to cover the corresponding appeal fees according to EGYCERT list of fees. Any paid appeal fees are refunded in case of positive resolution of an appeal in favor of the operator.
Appeals shall be submitted by using the respective on-line Appeal Form accompanied by any other supporting documentation and the receipt of depositing the appeal fees. EGYCERT receives appeals by fax, regular mail, e-mail or handed over in person at its offices.
For every appeal submitted, EGYCERT shall run an in-depth investigation in order to reach an objective decision for resolving the case. Operators are informed about the outcome of the investigations within 15 days of the appeal date and about the final decision no later than 30 days after the submission of the appeal.
If the Appeal Manager based on the evidence provided and the review of the available documentation, identifies weaknesses regarding the Certification Committee decision against which the Operator has appealed, he/she shall order a reassessment of this particular case. The Certification Committee shall meet ad-hoc for the case, if there is no planned meeting, within the next 3 working days. The Appeal Manager shall be present and contribute to the Certification Committee reassessment. The Complaint / Appeal Manager will then inform the client about the outcome of the investigation within 15 days of the appeal date by using the form Appeal. Should the result of the investigation be positive, the appeal fees will be refunded in full.
In case of a negative decision over a submitted appeal, the operator - client has still the right to present the case to the Impartiality and Safeguard Committee by contacting them via a info@egy-cert.com. The Committee will not consider any appeal which has not gone through the first level of resolution by EGYCERT and will not consider any supporting documents or evidence which have not been presented before to the certification committee.
The decision of the Impartiality and Safeguard Committee is binding for all parties and is notified to the appellant within 3 days after the decision.