28. Can a transfer audit (including stage 1 and stage 2) be completed remotely when the certificate is expiring within 12 months?
The Special audit for transfer including “Stage 1” and “Stage 2” can be completed using ICT when the risk of issuing the transferred certification is acceptable. Audits linked to the subsequent recertification activity can also be completed remotely. Please note however that issuing a new 3-year certificate would represent significant risk to the CB (i.e. issuing a certificate when the client has never been visited) and the AB might challenge the certification decision based on a lack of objective evidence to support the conclusion. The transferred certificate in OASIS should expire and it would need to be appended with the code [IAF ID 3] before re-instatement.