Hi
I was curious about unannounced audits, is the time window determined by the certifier? I have been told it can be an 8 month window, which seems to be a very large one.
Also, it was my understanding that it cannot be an unannounced audit during a re-certification year. Our original certification was 2016 and after our audit in April to version 4.1 our new certificate indicates an expiry of May 2019. That to me means that it will be a re-certification audit in 2019 and should not be allowed to be un-announced. The FSSC rules mention that it cannot be unannounced on a re-certification audit (pasted below)
ANNEX FSSC 22000 version 4.1, Part 4, Section 7, Unannounced audits 7.3 Unannounced audits 7.3.1 Frequency 1) The CB shall ensure that for each certified organization at least one unannounced audit is undertaken after the initial certification audit and within each 3-year period thereafter. 2) The certified organization can voluntary choose to replace all surveillance audits by unannounced annual surveillance audits. 3) Neither the initial certification audit (stage 1 and stage 2) nor the recertification audit can be replaced by an unannounced audit
Am I misinterpreting this?