GIC International, its Top Management, Managers, and Staff fully understand the importance of impartiality in undertaking its Certification Activities. Therefore, GIC International will ensure that in all its dealings with clients or potential clients, all employees or other personnel will remain impartial and do not allow commercial, financial, or other pressures to compromise impartiality; this will also maintain under their contracts and appointment letters. Accordingly, the following principles have been established.

• GIC International top management is committed to ensuring impartiality.
• All of the personnel of GIC International (either internal or external) or committee members who could influence the certification activities always ensure impartially.
• GIC International Certificates are only issued following a review by an independent and impartial decision committee to ensure that no interest shall predominate.
• GIC International does not certify another certification body for its management system certification activities.
• GIC International does not offer (and has never offered) management system consultancy or any other form of consultancy to companies or individuals.
• GIC International does not offer (and has never offered) an internal audit service to companies or individuals.
• GIC International does not own or have any interest (financial or otherwise) in any other company that offers certification, management system consultancy, or internal audit services.
• GIC International does not outsource audits to a management system consultancy organization, as this poses an unacceptable threat to the impartiality of the certification body.
• GIC International and or any part of the same legal entity under its administrative control shall not:

1. Be the designer, manufacturer, installer, distributor, or maintainer of the certified product.
2. Be the designer, implementer, operator, or maintainer of the certified process.
3. Be the designer, implementer, provider, or maintainer of the certified service.

• GIC International identifies all risks to its impartiality on an ongoing basis through its personnel records, e.g., their experience letters, etc. Any proposed risks associated with GIC International will undergo a risk assessment by the Impartiality Committee before that relationship is formalized.
• GIC International does not have (and will not form) any relationships with companies that offer consultancy, internal audit services, or other services that can be construed as impacting the certification services provided by TUV Austria. Any proposed relationship between GIC International and any other company will undergo a risk assessment by the Impartiality Committee before that relationship is formalized.
• Any current relationships with companies, organizations, and individuals will be assessed for the risks regularly to ensure that the relationship does not impact the impartiality of the certification process. The Impartiality Committee will review the risk assessment.
• Individuals employed by or otherwise contracted to GIC International must document and record their current and past relationships with all companies. Any situation past or present which associates with the potential conflict of interest is declared by GIC International.
• GIC International will use the information to identify any threats to impartiality and will not use that individual in any capacity unless they can demonstrate that there is no conflict of interest. The Impartiality Committee will review the risk assessment.
• GIC International does not allocate a member of staff or sub-contractor to a management system audit, review, and or certification decision where any past relationship has existed. Exceptionally and at the Operations Manager or Top Management discretion, an individual or subcontractor may be allocated to a management system audit where a past relationship has existed. Still, there has been no relationship for a minimum of 2 years. The Impartiality Committee will review the risk assessment.
• GIC International ensures that activities of separate legal entities, with which the certification body or the legal entity of which it forms a part has relationships, do not compromise the impartiality of its certification activities.
• GIC International takes appropriate legal action to respond to any risks to its impartiality arising from the activities of other persons, bodies, or organizations, of which it becomes aware.