WHO PUTS MY DETAILS ONTO THE BRC DIRECTORY?

Your Certification Body will request your site details and contacts before carrying out the audit and they are responsible for putting these details onto the Directory on your behalf. Once entered onto the Directory your site will be allocated a unique site code.

WHAT IF THERE ARE MISTAKES OR I WANT TO CHANGE THE CONTACT PERSON?

You should either contact your Certification Body or the BRC.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I WANT TO CHANGE CERTIFICATION BODIES?

Your new Certification Body will be able to access your site record but not previous reports. You would be expected to provide access to your last audit report.

HOW DO I GET ACCESS TO THE DIRECTORY?

When your Certification Body loads your next audit report onto the new Directory your nominated contact Email address will receive an Email providing a password and instructions on how to access the Directory.

WILL MY REPORT BE FREELY AVAILABLE ON THE WEB SITE?

No. Reports will not be available on the public section of the web site.

The public site will have only certificate details much as the current website. You can request not to be on the public website at all if you wish.

WHO CAN SEE MY REPORT?

Your report is held within the private area of the website and is accessible by your Certification Body and the Directory Team managing the scheme. You can make your report available to customers by authorising access via the Directory. A screen will be provided when you log on which will allow you to select the customers you want to see your report.

DO I HAVE TO PUT MY REPORT INTO THE DIRECTORY?

Yes ¨C this is a requirement under the scheme rules for Certification to the BRC Standard. In order for the BRC to manage the scheme effectively, monitor the performance of Certification Bodies and maintain standards we must have access to all BRC audit reports. Access is restricted to the Directory Team running the scheme, the information is treated as confidential and is not available to BRC members unless the supplier has given permission for selected members to view.

WILL MY CERTIFICATE BE ON THE DIRECTORY?

The certificate will not be displayed on the public Directory. The key information from the certificate will however be available e.g. audit date, certificate expiry date, scope of audit.

I AM NOT DUE TO HAVE AN AUDIT YET, WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY DETAILS ON THE OLD DIRECTORY?

The old Directory will be closed down and your information transferred automatically to the new site. It is not possible for the copy of your certificate to be transferred however on request the Directory Team will enter those certificate details which have not transferred.

Certification Bodies

DO WE HAVE TO START USING THE NEW DIRECTORY AS SOON AS THIS BECOMES AVAILABLE?

We would expect you to start to use the new Directory as soon as possible once this is available and certainly within 2-3 weeks of making the training materials available.

SOME OF OUR AUDITORS CONTINUED USING THE OLD REPORT FORMATS AFTER THE 1ST OF MAY, WHAT DO WE DO WITH THESE REPORTS?

This should be discussed with the Directory Team. We may be able to assist by loading these reports for you if there was a genuine problem which delayed the use of the new templates.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE AUDIT REPORTS WE CARRIED OUT BEFORE THE 1ST OF MAY?

These should be submitted to the BRC Directory Team who will manually enter the information for you on to the system, alternatively you can upload the reports yourself as manual uploads.

WE CAN¡¯T OPEN THE TRAINING VIDEOS, WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

The videos are in an MP4 format file. It is possible that your IT department may have blocked the use of such files as these are most commonly used for personal use videos and music files. We would suggest that a dispensation is requested for these particular training files.

SOME OF OUR REPORTS WON¡¯T UPLOAD, WHAT DO WE DO?

If the report will not load you should receive an error message identifying areas of the report which need amending. Check to ensure that all of the information has been completed and that this has been completed within the tagged areas.

HOW MUCH DOES THE BRC CHARGE?

The element of the audit fee payable to the BRC; known as the BRC registration fee will increase to £125 from 1 January 2010. This covers the management and development of the Certification Scheme, the compliance function and future Directory development. This fee is included within the audit costs charged by your Certification Body and paid to the BRC by your Certification Body.

For enquiries about the Directory and about how to use it please contact the helpline :

EMAIL: BRCsupport@connectedsources.com

PHONE : +44(0) 20 8819 6513