The title of ISO 17020 is the general criteria for the operation of various types of bodies performing the inspection.
Based on the requirement of this standard, in clause 4.2:
“The inspection body shall be independent to the extent that is required with regard to the conditions under which it performs its services.”
The independence criteria for Third Party Inspection Companies detailed in Annex A of ISO 17020 is as below:
- The inspection body shall be independent of the parties involved.
- The inspection body and its staff responsible for carrying out the inspection shall not be the designer, manufacturer, supplier, installer, purchaser, owner, user, or maintainer of the items that they inspect, nor the authorized representative of any of these parties.
- The inspection body and its staff shall not engage in any activities that may conflict with their independence of judgment and integrity in relation to their inspection activities. In particular, they shall not become directly involved in the design, manufacture, supply, installation, use, or maintenance of the items inspected, or similar competitive items.
- All interested parties shall have access to the services of the inspection body. There shall not be undue financial or other conditions.
The procedures under which the body operates shall be administered in a nondiscriminatory manner.
So based on the above requirements, when either the buyer or seller makes a contract with a third-party inspection company, the judgment must be done independently.
In the case of a dispute between a buyer and seller, both parties should not expect the third-party inspection judge to work in their interest. Some buyers and sellers make the argument that they are the client, and a Third Party Inspection Company is the contractor, so the contractor must fully obey them.
But based on the third party independent inspection concept, this judgment is not correct and will damage the independence and integrity of the Third Party Inspection Company. If this happens, then nobody can trust the third-party inspection company's inspection and judgment.
ISO 1720 Definition for Third Party Inspection Services Company
The ISO 1720; - Requirements for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection- specifies characteristics of these kinds of inspection agencies.
Based on these requirements, these agencies must be impartial and independent in their inspection activities and in their inspection reports and results.
All interested companies such as traders, buyers, sellers, engineering companies, construction companies must have access to the third-party inspection services of these inspection companies.
Impartial and independence conditions are very important factors for third-party Inspection companies. In this direction, ISO 17020 does not allow these companies to be participated or be involved in any procurement, purchasing, construction, installation, and even design activities.
They must only provide third-party inspection services and nothing else.
Based definition of the ISO 17020, these inspection companies are category A inspection organizations. Based on this standard, there are two more inspection organizations that are not independent.
A category B inspection organization is an inspection department in a large-scale company that is involved in the design, procurement, construction, installation, etc. this inspection department provides third-party inspection services to its own company.
Usually, a category B inspection organization is a quality control department in an engineering or EPC company. This department assists the company in procurement and purchasing projects and makes inspections on the equipment and materials that are purchased by its own company
Third-Party Inspection Services Company and Provides Vendor Inspection Services, Welding and Coating Inspection Services for Industry.
Third-Party Inspection services refer to independent inspection services that are provided by inspection agencies. This article supplies you with information about TPI definition, TPI companies and also provides you with third-party independent inspection procedures for the different fix, rotary, electrical and instrumental equipment.
In purchasing and procurement projects the sellers and vendors are first parties. The second parties are purchasers or buyers.
First-party inspection refers to quality control activities that are done by equipment vendors or sellers.
Second-party inspection refers to inspection activities that are done by equipment buyers or purchasers.
In fact, the first party is a seller and the second party is the buyer. So when you state second-party inspection, it means that an inspection and quality control activities are done by a buyer and when you indicate first-party inspection, it means that an inspection and quality check is done by a vendor in its manufacturing shop.
Prepared by M.Ajmal Khan.
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