December 7, 2020. The Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS) underwent a surveillance audit for the maintenance of ISO 9001: 2015 Quality Management System (QMS) to assess whether BAFS QMS is able to maintain its conformity to ISO 9001: 2015 requirements. The surveillance audit was facilitated by Mr. Lance Xavier Dy, auditor of the TUV SUD PSB Philippines.
BAFS Director Myer G. Mula, process owners, and Mr. Dy attended the opening meeting. Mr. Dy opened the activity by providing a brief introduction about TUV SUD Philippines and presented the audit plan to process owners.
The Scope coverage for the current certification are: (1) Development of Philippine National Standards for Agriculture and Fishery; (2) Provision of Official Accreditation to Organic Certification Bodies; (3) Registration of Organic Agricultural Inputs; (4) Verification of Registered Organic Agriculture Operators; (5) Provision of Technical and Administrative support to National Organic Agriculture Board; (6) Creation of Linkages and networking with various stakeholders of organic agriculture; and (8) Conduct of Impact Assessments for Philippine National Standards.
After auditing the processes included in the certification scope, the Bureau acquired one non-conformity, two minor nonconformities, and two opportunities for improvement. Three days after, root cause analysis and its intended correction and corrective actions for each findings were submitted: (1) Handling of Nonconformities: Ineffective approach to the timely closure of non-conformities; (2) Risk Assessment: Non-utilization of revised form which includes the review of risk arising from non-conformities; and (3) Conduct of Capability Building: Non-inclusion of pre-test in the Training Design, inconsistency of some topics with the online instructional materials, unable to carry out the assessment activity of Module 4, and premature administration of the final exam.
As of writing, the Bureau is waiting for the acceptance of the submitted corrective actions. The verification will take place on the next surveillance audit in 2021. ###