9. For each manufacturing site in the group audit program, does the conversion audit allow a certain reduction in audit man-days (eg, -20%, -30%, etc.)?

   Allowed, transition audits will be counted man-days according to the same requirements as recertification audits.

  10. When an auditor of a certification body needs to conduct a 7-person-day audit according to the plan, must the audit be conducted on consecutive calendar days? For example, can audits be scheduled for Monday through Friday and Monday through Tuesday the following week?

   If an auditor audits more than five days, the audit must be scheduled and conducted on consecutive calendar days in accordance with Clause 5.7 of the IATF Rules. However, for transition audits, the IATF allows on-site audits to be scheduled and conducted on consecutive working days at that manufacturing site.

  11. Per the requirements of this transition guidance document, more than one auditor is allowed to participate in transition audits. Will these auditors continue to participate in subsequent surveillance audits?

  A member of the audit team who has participated in the transition audit will be allowed to participate in the subsequent surveillance audit as an audit team member.

12. For an organization's external support function, if a transition audit based on IATF 16949 has not been completed prior to the transition audit at its relevant manufacturing site, the auditor responsible for reviewing the completed gap analysis and detailed action plan for that external support function , how to deal with it?

   First, the client should be able to provide the certification body's audit team with a copy of the gap analysis document, including the current up-to-date action plan (eg timetable, assigned responsibilities and implementation status, etc.). This information will be retained by the auditor with the audit records as evidence that the external support function has knowledge of the IATF 16949 standard, has completed an analysis of its existing system against the requirements of the new standard, and is implementing an action plan to close the gaps . The above information is necessary to support the final decision whether to issue an IATF 16949 certificate to the manufacturing site.

  13. If one or more of the non-conformities of the transition audit to IATF 16949 are not 100% resolved or closed within the specified time period, what will be the impact on the existing ISO/TS 16949 certificate?

   The certification body shall comply with all requirements of Section 5.11 of the IATF Rules. In this case, the transition audit is considered "failed" and the IATF database will be updated accordingly. The certification decision is invalid, which means that the ISO/TS 16949:2009 certificate is withdrawn and the client will have to restart the initial certification audit.

  14. If the manufacturing site is already ISO 9001:2015 and ISO/TS 16949:2009 certified, is it allowed to reduce the audit man-days required for the transition audit?

   In this case, the man-days required for the conversion review cannot be further reduced. The only possibility that allows for a reduction in audit man-days is if the client decides to upgrade from ISO 9001:2015 to IATF 16949, the second stage audit days can be reduced by 30%.

  15. Can the certification body conduct separate audits for the ISO 9001:2015 and IATF 16949:2016 supplementary requirements?

  Not allowed. IATF 16949 cannot be considered an independently implementable quality management system standard, but should be implemented in conjunction with ISO 9001:2015 as a complement.

  16. After 1 October 2017, if an organization (with a valid ISO/TS 16949 certificate) is required to conduct a special audit (per IATF Rules Section 7.2), is the audit based on ISO/TS 16949 or IATF 16949?

   The scope of the special audit will be the organization's existing certification criteria. In this case, a special audit will be conducted based on ISO/TS16949.

17. If the organization has contracted with a new certification body to conduct transition audits - before the IATF publishes the "Revised Transition Guidance Document" on 10 August 2016 - is the organization allowed to switch from ISO/TS under this exception? 16949 transition to IATF 16949 and transfer audit at the same time?

   For existing ISO/TS 16949 certified organizations, transition audits will be conducted only by existing certification bodies that have certified the organization to ISO/TS 16949. However, the IATF recognizes contracts entered into before 10 August 2016. In this exception, the organization is allowed to continue the transition process to the new certification body and make the transition to IATF 16949.

   In this case, all requirements for transfer audits apply, however, the number of audit days should be equal to the second stage and not equal to the recertification audit. The certification body needs to obtain permission from the relevant supervisory office to conduct the conversion audit, and the exemption application should include relevant evidence that the contract was signed on or before August 10, 2016. The certification body shall enter this audit as a transition audit in the IATF database using the exemption number and the previous IATF number.