Foundation for Food Safety Certification
LETTER OF INTENT
Between
Foundation for Food Safety Certification
to be called the Foundation
Stephensonweg 14
4207 HB Gorinchem
The Netherlands
and
Name Certification Body / : / enter name Certification BodyContact details / : / enter contact details Certification body
to be called CB
Referring to
Agreement for recognition to use FSSC 22000 – Animal Feed
The certification scheme for food safety systems of food manufacturing based on ISO 22000: 2005 and technical specifications for sector PRPs
CONSIDERING:
1. That the Foundation is a foundation registered by the Dutch Chamber of Commerce that drafts and holds copyright in certification schemes for certain services concerning food safety certification;
2. That CB is a certification body that specialises in food safety certification and is interested to issue certificates of conformity with the Food Safety System Certification 22000 scheme (FSSC 22000);
3. That CB requests permission from the Foundation to use the Foundation’s FSSC 22000 scheme;
4. That the scope for this Letter of Intent is limited to animal food and feed manufacturing;
5. That the Foundation grants to CB permission to use the FSSC 22000 scheme as soon as the conditions as mentioned in Appendix A and B to this Letter of Intent will be met satisfactorily.
HEREBY AGREE AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1 Goal and scope
1. CB has the intention to act as a CB for FSSC 22000
and will act in accordance to the regulations of this standard. These regulations are an
integral part of the certification scheme and are stated in the following documents;
· Features of the scheme
· Part I: Requirements of the food safety system and guidance on how to apply for
certification
· Part II: Requirements for providing certification, including the regulation for the CBs
and for the harmonization committee
· Part III:Requirements for providing accreditation including the regulation for the ABs
· Part IV: Regulations for the Board of Stakeholders
· Current list of decisions by the Board of Stakeholders
2. The CB seeking the recognition from the Foundation as mentioned in Article 1 requires an accreditation by any accreditation body (AB) which has a membership of IAF and are signatories to the IAF MLA. The AB shall also have agreed with the regulation for accreditation as defined in the scheme. These accreditation bodies can be found on the website of the Foundation, www.fssc22000.com
3. Furthermore, to receive this recognition the AB has to provide a specific accreditation on FSSC 22000 against ISO/IEC 17021.
4. The CB shall have a valid accreditation ISO 22000 certification services under ISO/IEC Guide 17021 by an accreditation body (AB) which has a membership of IAF, are signatories to the IAF MLA and are approved by the Foundation.
5. The CB is responsible for the assessment with respect of the fulfilment of technical and operational acceptance criteria according to FSSC 22000, amongst others, harmonization with other CBs.
6. The CB shall have a contract with the certified organizations, which will state that the
organization shall meet the requirements of FSSC 22000. Certified organizations will pay a yearly fee of €125,00 to the CB. The CB will hand over this fee to the Foundation. Further, the name of the organization, the date of the initial certification and the expiry date shall be published on the website www.fssc22000.com within 4 weeks after the delivery of the certificate.
7. It is allowed to use results of ISO 22000 or technical specifications for sector PRPs audits delivered previous then the signatory date of this Letter of Intent. In this case the conditions for validation of the audit results as described in appendix B of this letter are applicable.
Article 2 Liability
1. The Foundation cannot be held liable by the CB for any damages which may arise as a result from this agreement or from using any of the Foundations legally owned certification schemes, except in case of serious default or neglect being the direct cause of such damages. Any personal liability of employees, staff, board or board of stakeholders members of the Foundation or its certification schemes is excluded hereby.
2. In any case the Foundations liability towards the CB will be restricted to € 250,000.-- per damage event, and for a total amount of € 1,000,000.- per calendar year, as conditioned under the Foundations liability insurance contract, the terms and conditions of which will be made available in writing to the CB if requested and of which the CB declares that it has taken knowledge of and that it has accepted same by entering into the contract as set forth herein.
3. The CB shall indemnify the Foundation against any and all third party claims, on the part of CB clients or any parties directly or indirectly related to CB-activities resulting from the agreement as set forth herein.
4. The CB is liable for and will directly indemnify upon written notice the Foundation for any damages caused by violation of any of the terms and stipulations of this agreement and other liabilities in connection with the activities by the CB as a result of this agreement, including tort, negligence or otherwise, to an amount of maximum € 250,000.- per damage event, with a maximum of € 1,000,000.- per calendar year, for which total amount the CB shall have a proper insurance, a copy of the insurance policy to be sent to the Foundation upon written request.
Article 3 Communication
1. The formal contact details:
Foundation for Food Safety Certification
Stephensonweg 14, 4207 HB Gorinchem, The Netherlands
tel: + 31 183 645 028
fax: + 31 183 621 161
web: www.fssc22000.com
e-mail:
2. The Foundation and CB agree that any knowledge of information or documents given to the designated operational contact person shall be deemed to have been given to all relevant involved persons.
3. CBs with a provisional approval, including the date of approval, will be published on the website www.fssc22000.com.
Article 4 Term
The Letter of Intent is effective from the date the last party signed the letter and is valid as a
provisional recognition from the signature date of the Letter of Intent until the date mentioned
in Appendix A.
Article 5 Initial and annual fee
1. The CB shall pay an initial fee of € 5.000 or €3.000 for certification bodies who are already approved for Dutch HACCP. For CBs already FSSC 22000 associated the initial fee is not applicable.
2. The CBs shall jointly bear the costs associated with the operation of the Foundation, the BoS and any further Boards and working groups which are formed. The Foundation determines yearly an annual budget plus a fee per certificate. For 2014 the annual fee for the CBs is € 2000 per PRP and the fee per certified site is €125.
3. The annual fee and if applicable the initial fee shall be paid after signing the Letter of Intent.
4. The prices shall be exclusive of VAT and/or other taxes, unless expressly agreed otherwise.
5. The payment shall be made within 30 days after the invoice date.
APPENDIX A: Conditions to use the FSSC 22000 scheme
The provisional licence, granted by this letter of intent, is intended to give CB the opportunity to approach a limited number of potential clients to prove their competence to the accreditation body. This provisional licence is automatically ended when the application period with the accreditation body is ended. This period shall not be longer than one year from the signature date of this Letter of Intent. The CB shall provide the secretary of the Foundation with the accreditation report. The report shall be treated confidentially.
In case the certification body does not meet these requirements within one year from the signature date of this Letter of Intent the Foundation has the right to terminate the licence to the use of the certification scheme and the use of the FSSC 22000 logo. This decision will be published on the Foundations website and relevant stakeholders like the GFSI will be informed.
If not provided yet, the CB, as mentioned in article 1.1, has to provide the Foundation with a statement of the accreditation body that a formal application for accreditation on the basis of FSSC 22000 has been made. Next to this the CB has to provide the Foundation written evidence of a valid accreditation for ISO 22000 under the conditions as listed in Article 1.4 in this Letter of Intent.
APPENDIX B: Validation of previous delivered ISO 22000 or technical specifications
for sector PRPs certification audits
Certification bodies may use the results of ISO 22000 or technical specifications
for sector PRPs certification audits delivered before the issue date of the letter of intent between the CB and the Foundation under the following conditions:
1. A formal validation of the audits has to be conducted.
2. The CB shall ensure that those requirements in Part I and Part II of the FSSC 22000 certification scheme which are not assessed or not observed in the ISO 22000 or technical specifications for sector PRPs certification audit, are included in the certification audit of FSSC 22000. This particularly concerns the requirements for the food safety system in sections 3.2 and 3.3 of Part I and the requirements and guidance for certification in sections 2 of Part II.
3. The ISO 22000 certification audit has been delivered under a valid ISO/IEC 17021- ISO/TS 22003 accreditation.
4. The expiry date of the FSSC 22000 certificate shall be the same as the expiry date of the previous issued ISO 22000 certificate*.
5. The CB shall document the implementation and compliance of the conditions 1 to 4 for each certification audit.
* Note: In order to obtain a FSSC 22000 certificate with a validity of 3 years, a full system initial certification audit shall take place, including the evaluation of the fulfilment of the requirements of ISO 22000.
CONCLUSION:
This Letter of Intent grants CB a provisional recognition for a limited period stated in the Appendix A.
C. Groenveld, Chairman of the Foundation for Food Safety Certification
Signed______Date______
Enter name legal representative, Enter function, Enter name Certification Body
Signed______Date ______
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