Integrity Program
With our Integrity Program, we aim to provide our stakeholders with a trusted brand certification platform.
How do we provide trust?
The Integrity Program aims to provide our stakeholders, the consumer goods industry, and the related supply chain with a trusted brand certification platform. The program achieves this via the continuous and effective operation of several processes to ensure compliance with Scheme requirements and protect certification integrity and the FSSC brand.
The Integrity Program staff assess and verify Certification Bodies’ performance via several remote and in-person activities. The results of the Integrity Program activities are used to monitor trends and define improvements in conjunction with licensed partners.
Our Monitoring Activities
The Integrity Program conducts yearly monitoring activities to assess compliance with Scheme requirements.
These include the following:
- Desk Reviews: off-site assessments of audit packages, certificates, and auditors’ competence registered in our database.
- Office Assessments: assessments are conducted remotely or onsite via interviews with CB personnel. Integrity Program assessors perform both activities.
Continuous Improvement
All ISO-aligned management systems require the inclusion of a continuous improvement process, that is embedded in an organization’s way of working. The FSSC Integrity Program is no different, and this constant improvement extends to our CB performance evaluation systems.
One of our performance evaluation systems is the Onboarding Program (OBP). The OBP was officially launched in January 2021 and is designed to support newly licensed Certification Bodies in understanding performance expectations. Completion of the OBP is mandatory for all new CBs entering a licensing agreement with the Foundation. It is further supported by the Partner Performance Program that includes a set of KPIs for the ongoing performance monitoring of licensed CBs.
