Following agreement with its current assurance services provider, Assurance Services International (ASI), SBP is preparing to transition to the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB). SBP has worked with ASI as a valued assurance partner since 2016.

Already well-recognised internationally, ANAB is (amongst other things) a signatory of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) multilateral recognition arrangements. The IAF is a worldwide association of accreditation bodies and other bodies involved in conformity assessment across a number of fields, providing assurance that certification in the market place is a reliable tool. As SBP prepares for expansion into new geographies, ANAB will help manage the risks associated with the geographic growth strategy.

The transition to ANAB is expected to be completed by mid-July 2022. SBP is providing full support to its Certification Bodies throughout the transition to ensure that there is no loss of service to any of its Certificate Holders.

More on what the transition means for SBP’s Certification Bodies and Certificate Holders is available on the SBP website here.

SBP has today announced that the validities of the Regional Risk Assessments (RRAs) for Denmark and Latvia have been extended to coincide with the end of the transition period for the forthcoming, revised SBP Standards (v2).

SBP-endorsed RRAs remain valid for a period of five (5) years from the approval date. Both the RRA for Denmark and the RRA for Latvia were first published in 2017, consequently both are due to expire this year.

Our Standards Development Process is expected to complete in the second half of this year, culminating in the publication of a set of revised Standards. A transition period will follow allowing time for Certificate Holders to comply with the revised requirements; at the end of the transition period it will be mandatory for all Certificate Holders to comply with the revised requirements.

The RRAs will require updating in line with the revised Standards and that will be undertaken in a timely fashion within the same transition period, such that complying with the requirements of the updated RRAs will also be mandatory from the end of the transition period.

Mindful of the implications of the Standards Development Process on existing SBP-endorsed RRAs, the SBP Secretariat proposed extending the validities of the two RRAs to coincide with the end of the transition period of the revised Standards. In accordance with the SBP RRA Procedure¹, a proposal was submitted by the Secretariat to the SBP Technical Committee seeking a recommendation for such an exception. The SBP Technical Committee agreed with the proposal and submitted a recommendation for approval to the SBP Chief Executive Officer. The recommendation was approved on 2 May 2022.

Notes:
¹ SBP RRA Procedure, version 1.2, Section 8.