Appeals Process

Clients may choose to appeal any nonconformance or registration decision that they feel is not justified by the requirements of the applicable standard(s), or that is based on inaccurate or incomplete information.

Nonconformance Appeal

If appealing a nonconformance, the Client must alert the assigned Account Specialist within 20 calendar days of the closing meeting of their audit. In the case of a Client with multiples sites, the notice of appeal must be made within 20 calendar days of the nonconformance being issued. Once the notice has been received, the Account Specialist shall provide the client a Nonconformance Appeal Form (RF-139), where the Client shall document the reason(s) for the appeal. PRI Certification's technical manager shall review the appeal, and conduct an investigation to determine the validity of the appeal. If the technical manager was involved in the audit, another impartial registration-decision maker will be selected to conduct the investigation. Within 7 calendar days, the technical manager (or alternate) shall provide the Client with a decision on accepting or denying the appeal of the nonconformance.

If the Client disagrees with the outcome of the appeal decision, then they may choose to request an additional review by a different, impartial decision-maker; at this point, a $500 fee would be required. A third review, conducted by a sub-committee of PRI Certification's Advisory Panel, may also be requested at no further cost. The decision of the Advisory Panel sub-committee shall be considered final.

NOTE: The timelines for nonconformance response remain in effect during the appeal process. Failure to meet the response deadlines shall still result in suspension, unless a decision to accept the appeal is issued prior to response due date.

Registration Decision Appeal

If appealing a registration decision, the Client must alert the assigned Account Specialist within 20 calendar days of the registration decision.

NOTE: When a decision is made to withdraw an Aerospace certification, the OASIS database must be updated within 14 calendar days, and the withdrawal cannot be reversed in the database. Therefore, in the case of an Aerospace withdrawal, notice of appeal must be submitted to the Account Specialist no more than 10 calendar after the decision.

Once the notice has been received, the Account Specialist shall provide the client a Registration Decision Appeal Form (RF-140), where the Client shall document the reason(s) for the appeal. A sub-committee of PRI Certification's Advisory Panel shall review the appeal, and conduct an investigation to determine the validity of the appeal. Both a representative of the Client and the original registration decision-maker will be given the opportunity to present their case to the sub-committee. Within 10 business days, the sub-committee shall provide a decision to accept or deny the appeal.

The decision of the Advisory Panel sub-committee shall be considered final.