Fraunhofer-GesellschaftIn case of complaints or appeals regarding the certification process or decisions of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority, you may address your complaint or appeal directly to the head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority.
Definition of Appeal
This refers to the request of the client (applicant, candidate, certified person) to review the decision made by the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority with regard to his/her intended certification status.
Definition of Complaint
The complaint, unlike the appeal, is to be understood as an expression of dissatisfaction towards the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority regarding its activities or those of a certified person; it can be filed by third parties (any person or organization).
1. Principles in the Handling of Complaints and Appeals
The Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority must ensure that all complaints and appeals are handled constructively, impartially and in a timely manner. In addition, the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority must ensure that all data pertaining to the complainant/objector and the reason for the objection are treated confidentially and that the submission, investigation, and adjudication of complaints or appeals do not result in prejudice to the complainant/objector.
The head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority is also responsible for receiving, validating and investigating complaints and appeals, and for deciding what action to take to resolve them. He or she may delegate the tasks associated with this, but must ensure that the persons involved in the process for handling complaints and appeals are different from those affected by the complaint/appeal. In the event of an appeal, the FIT Arbitration Board must always be involved.
2. Handling of Complaints
The procedure for handling complaints is as follows:
Receiving the complaint
Every complaint must be presented to the head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority in written form (submission of the complaint). The complainant will receive an acknowledgement of receipt.
Validation and investigation of the complaint
The Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority first checks whether the complaint relates to certification activities for which the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority is responsible. Subsequently, the legitimacy of the complaint is examined on the basis of the examination regulations, the relevant procedural instructions, and other specified contractual requirements. The Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority is responsible for collecting and verifying all information required to validate the complaint.
Monitoring and recording of the complaint
The complainant receives progress reports of the process and is notified in writing of the outcome of the complaint processing.
All correspondence, as well as records of the reasons for a decision regarding the complaint and any countermeasures, will be documented. In doing so, confidentiality requirements, at least as far as the complainant and the cause of the complaint are concerned, shall be taken into account.
Information in case of a substantiated complaint
If the substantiated complaint concerns a certified person or a specific person involved in the certification process, the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority will forward the complaint to this person within a reasonable period of time. The information will be provided by the secretariat of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority.
Decision on the complaint
The decision on the complaint shall be evaluated by the staff of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority that has not been involved in the subject matter of the complaint. The decision on the complaint shall be made and released by the head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority, and formally be communicated to the complainant.
If the complaint is found to be legitimate, it will be ensured that appropriate corrective action is taken. If the complaint is not resolved by the head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority or if there is a complaint by employees against decisions made by the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority, the Arbitration Board of FIT will be convened to make a decision.
The complainant will be informed about the appeal to the Arbitration Board and the associated transfer of personal data to the Arbitration Board. The information is provided by the head of the secretariat. The head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority is responsible.
3. Handling of Appeals
The procedure for handling appeals is as follows:
Receiving the appeal
An appeal must be brought to the attention of the head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority in written form (submission of the appeal). The receipt of the appeal will be confirmed to the objector in writing.
Validation and investigation of appeals
Formal examination of the appeal: The head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority assigns the spokesperson and deputy spokesperson of the respective expert committee to verify whether it formally deals with an appeal.
The objector is informed in writing about the outcome of the examination. If the objector is not satisfied with the result of the examination, they must inform the management of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority in writing.
Substantive examination of the objection: The head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority assigns a technically qualified person who was not involved in the examination and certification process and has no conflict of interest to conduct the substantive examination of the appeal.
The objector is informed in writing about the outcome of the examination. If the objector is not satisfied with the result of the examination, they must inform the management of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority in writing.
Convening the arbitration board
If the objector is not satisfied with the outcome of the formal or substantive examination of the appeal, the head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority is obliged to promptly convene an arbitration board to reach a decision.
The objector is informed about the invocation of the arbitration board and the associated disclosure of personal data to the arbitration board.
If no agreement is reached between the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority and the objector, despite the involvement of the arbitration board, the objector is free to inform relevant authorities and/or the German Accreditation Body (DAkkS).
Implementation of the measures that are taken as resolution
The Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority implements the countermeasures to resolve the appeal. All activities to implement the countermeasures are documented in writing. The head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority checks and documents whether all countermeasures have been initiated.
Ensuring that appropriate corrective actions are taken
The head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority must also check whether corrective actions need to be initiated to prevent another similar appeal. To this end, he or she develops preventive or corrective measures together with the staff of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority. The head of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority is responsible for ensuring that the measures developed are implemented.
Monitoring and recording of appeals
All correspondence as well as records of the reasons for a decision regarding the appeal and all countermeasures are documented and filed electronically (by the secretariat of the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority).