How does a temporary production stop affect BRC Certification?

Our last BRC audit was on 26th of February 2015,Fro that day we haven't any production until now because of EU ban on sea food export, Ban may lift  on end of January so we haven't  sufficient record. How will i face to next audit coming march,I haven't any previous experiences on BRC    ?  

Hello Chathuranaga,

It is a strange situation indeed. The auditor will need to see physical production and historical records, most of which would be expected to have been generated during the past year, since the last audit.

In this case I would contact your certification body for guidance.  I have a feeling that you will have a period without BRC Certificate until you have enough records to demonstrate compliance with your own procedures and the requirements of the standard.

Regards,

Simon

Hi Chathuranga,

Your case is an exceptional cercumstance that would likely be handled by the communication with your cirtification body. According to the BRC standard - Issue 7, in Part III - Audit Protocol, in 2.7.2 Certificate Expiry - Justifiable Circumstances, it is mentioned about the circumstances where the certificate cannot be renewed. In your case, the product is not available for you to conduct the production. So, in my opinion (and also according to 2.7.2 in part III of the standard), this can be considered as a justifiable circumstance where it would not result in a major non-confirmity. So, I think you can extend the audit due date after consulting with your certification body until the auditors would get a sufficiant amount of records to audit your organization.

i  contacted with our certification body,they guided me to submit a letter to them regarding circumstances, then they will respond according to the letter.