We wish to advise that IAF MD11:2019 has been withdrawn by IAF due to concerns about the addition of the Extended Audit Approach (EAA) option and associated requirements. It is understood that this is primarily because:
- the requirements were not written in a way to ensure consistent application and may have caused confusion in the marketplace;
- time reductions allowed by EAA were not valid based on the inaccurate premise for the use of audit team resources; and
- there were concerns that the EAA option did not ensure conformity to the auditor competence requirements in ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015.
As a result, accredited certification bodies are required to revert back to IAF MD11:2013, with application from 17 January 2021 which was the date of application of IAF MD11:2019.
The JASANZ transition policy for IAF MD 11:2019 was withdrawn on 20 October 2020.
Whilst Equal Assurance has not been in support of the withdrawal of IAF MD 11:2019 (including the manner in which this withdrawal was executed), we are nevertheless working with clients who have sought to apply EAA to their certification programme, with the plan of transitioning back to the original requirements specified in IAF MD11:2013.
Please discuss with your Client Manager or Account Manager should you have any further queries.