Complaints

of CU, or work performed under the contractual responsibility of a critical or subcontracted office, where a response is expected.

An appeal is a formal request for reconsideration of a certification decision within a certification process, or request from the supplier of the conformity assessment object to CU to reconsider a decision made in relation to that object.

A formal request for a financial settlement is considered a complaint. Complaints are not considered complaints or appeals.

By completing the Control Union form for Complaints / Appeals, it is possible to submit a complaint, appeal, or grievance to us.

Complaints

The client may contact the company to report a complaint or leave a comment using different means of communication: telephone, e-mail, personal visit, meeting request, or by completing the form mentioned above.

All complaints will be treated as Non-Conformities.

In the case of receiving the complaint by a means other than the established form, request the informant to provide at least the following data:

• Contact person
• Reason for the complaint (description: who, where, what, when)
• Documentation (if applicable)

Complaints must always be submitted in writing.

The complaint must be received within 6 (six) months * after the event giving rise to the complaint at the applicable CU office; if the complaint is incomplete, CU may consider the complaint inadmissible and refuse to handle the complaint within 6 (six) months * after the event giving rise to the complaint at the applicable CU office.

Informal complaints are handled in work meetings. The degree of formality of the complaint is defined by the person responsible for the area. In case he/she cannot resolve it, he/she only refers it to the Quality Committee or to the Management.

All personnel in charge of handling the complaint should be different from those who carried out inspections and made the initial certification decision. Any staff member, including those acting in a managerial capacity, who has provided advice to the client in question, or has provided advice to or been employed by the client in question, within a period of 2 years prior to the filing of the complaint, shall not participate in the review or approval of the resolution of the client's complaint;

The grievance, appeals, complaints and concerns procedure is available to any interested party.

Receipt of the complaint shall be confirmed, in writing, within 10 days of receipt. This confirmation should indicate at least:

• Its admissibility, if the complaint is related to activities for which CU is responsible;
• Deadline for handling the complaint (maximum 3 months after receipt);
• First proposed action to follow up on the complaint.

And in case it is not considered pertinent, the reasons for the decision should be documented.

*For certifications, consider 6 weeks (maximum).

Appeals

Once the certification decision has been finalized, appeals will be received within 6 (six) weeks after the certification decision was issued and must be submitted to the CU office in Argentina or by email to iso.argentina@controlunion.com. If the client fails to do so, or if the data required for the appeal is incomplete, CU may reject the appeal.

The person responsible for coordinating the handling and processing of such appeal is designated. The personnel involved in handling the appeal may not be anyone who was involved in the inspection or certification decision making. Any member of staff, including those acting in a managerial capacity, who has provided advice to or been engaged by the client concerned, within a period of 2 years prior to the lodging of the appeal, shall not be involved in the review or approval of the resolution of that client's appeal.

a) A written confirmation of receipt of the appeal is sent to the client within 10 business days after receipt of the appeal. This confirmation should indicate at least:

• Its admissibility, if the appeal is related to activities for which CU is responsible;
• Deadline for handling the appeal (maximum 3 months after receipt);
• First proposed action to follow up on the appeal.

b) The assigned staff will collect and verify all necessary information.

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• First proposed action to follow up on the appeal.

b) Assigned staff will gather and verify all necessary information (to the extent possible), including root cause analysis, and propose how to move the appeal forward to a decision; including corrections and corrective actions where applicable. CUA will attempt to seek a timely resolution and will make a decision after careful consideration of all information;

c) CUA will keep the appellant informed of progress in evaluating the appeal, especially if the stated deadline is in danger of being exceeded;

d) The assigned appeal staff will notify the appellant in writing of the outcome and completion of the appeal process, within a maximum period of 3 months after receipt of the appeal;

e) The filing, investigation and decision on appeals shall not, in any case, result in discriminatory action against the appellant.

Claims

CU's liability in respect of any claim for loss, damage or expense of whatever nature and howsoever arising in respect of any breach of contract and/or any failure in the exercise of due skill and care on the part of the Company shall in no circumstances exceed a total sum equal to ten (10) times the amount of the fee or commission payable in respect of the specific service required under the particular contract with the Company which gives rise to
to such claims. The Company shall have no liability in respect of any claim for indirect or consequential loss, including loss of profits and/or loss of future business and/or loss of production and/or cancellation of contracts entered into by the Client. Where the fee or commission payable relates to a series of services and a claim arises in respect of one of those services, the fee or commission shall be apportioned for the purposes of this paragraph by reference to the estimated time involved in the performance of each service.