Terms of Reference

The Impartiality Committee shall:

• provide feedback during the development of policies and schemes relating to impartiality of BRE Global activities.
• counteract any tendency on the part of BRE Global to allow commercial or other considerations to prevent the consistent delivery of services in an impartial manner.
• advise on matters affecting confidence in assurance, including openness and public perception; and
• conduct a review, at least once annually, of the impartiality of the audit, certification, and decision-making processes of BRE Global.   by:
• having oversight of relevant processes and policies to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that BRE Global is:
• acting independently and impartially [¹]
• operating impartiality processes correctly;
• treating customers fairly;
• where appropriate, making suggestions for the improvement of policies, processes and procedures on matters related to impartiality.
• reviewing the results of internal and external audits, management reviews, complaints, appeals, certificate suspensions and withdrawals to ensure that procedures are administered in an impartial manner;   [¹] Impartiality is defined as the presence of objectivity, where: Objectivity is understood to mean that conflicts of interest do not exist or are resolved so as not to adversely influence the activities of the body. Other terms that are useful in conveying the element of impartiality are independence, freedom from conflicts of interest, freedom from bias, freedom from prejudice, neutrality, fairness, open-mindedness, even-handedness, detachment, and balance.   Where the Impartiality Committee feels that there are significant impartiality issues that it has been unable to address through the normal processes of working with BRE Global then it should escalate these issues through the BRE Group Risk and Audit Committee and where appropriate ultimately has the right to act independently of the BRE Group management (for example by informing the accreditation bodies).   Appeals on matters of certification, testing and assessment will be led by BRE’s Head of Quality & Compliance according to the BRE Appeals procedure (XP151). Where necessary, an Appeal Panel will be formed. The Chair of BRE Global’s Impartiality Committee will determine the composition of the Appeal Panel. The panel shall consist of at least two members of the Impartiality Committee and others as relevant that have no direct interest in the decision.   BRE Global is responsible for approval of its standards and schemes and as part of this process the Impartiality Committee will review and advise on impartiality for new and amended schemes and standards.