As Canada's national accreditation body conforming to ISO/IEC 17011, SCC has an established complaints procedure and ensures that all complaints are addressed:

• in a timely and effective manner,
• in confidence,
• in fairness,
• with transparency,
• by qualified and accountable people.

When SCC receives a complaint, SCC will review the information submitted, conduct an investigation (if applicable), and determine the outcome of the complaint. SCC may involve other parties in the investigation and share the information received from the complainant. After the outcome is determined, the complainant will be informed, while respecting confidentiality provisions between SCC and its accredited customer. Please note that pursuant to ISO/IEC 17011, SCC cannot share confidential information about its customers outside of the organization without their written consent.

The possible outcomes of a complaint are:

a)    a review of SCC’s or an SCC service delivery partner’s internal processes and revisit of process outcomes. For impartiality, this review will be conducted by people not directly involved in the activities that lead to the complaint.
b)    a review of an accredited organization’s internal processes and handling of a specific instance. This would be conducted by document and record review, and potentially an on-site (extraordinary) visit to review practices. The outcome may be an immediate correction and/or corrective action to prevent recurrence and could affect the organization’s accreditation status.

How do I submit a complaint?

You can complete the form below to submit a complaint about an SCC-accredited organization, its customers or competitors, or to open a formal complaint about an aspect of SCC's accreditation programs.  

Before filing your complaint, please ensure that:

1. The complaint is about SCC, an SCC assessment provider or an SCC-accredited organization.
2. If the complaint is about an SCC-accredited organization, the subject matter is within their SCC scope of accreditation. (For SCC to intervene in a complaint regarding an SCC-accredited entity, the complaint must be about an accredited activity or about false claims of SCC accreditation for other activities. Accredited activities are listed on the entity’s scope of accreditation available on the SCC website)
3. You have first attempted to resolve the issue directly with the most relevant party. (SCC will become involved in complaints only when discussions with the most relevant body have been undertaken and unsatisfactorily resolved)
4. You are including sufficient, factual evidence, and not hearsay, to support your complaint.
5. The purpose of your complaint is not to discredit SCC or an accredited organization.
6. You have not engaged in lobbying or other political influencing to resolve the issue.
7. You are willing to provide your true identity and contact information.

A complaint may be closed if it describes a circumstance that has been previously investigated and resolved and no additional, relevant evidence has been provided that warrants the issue being reopened.

Note: if you are a customer with a complaint regarding a specific finding raised during an assessment activity, please submit your complaint in writing to your SCC Account Manager within ten (10) business days of the issuance of the finding. Please provide justification that the finding be withdrawn. These complaints will be assigned for review by an independent party with expertise related to the assessment, whose recommendation will lead to a final decision by SCC on the validity of the finding.