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1. Introduction
The BRC unannounced audit scheme provides companies an opportunity to: demonstrate their confidence in their systems and procedures, to the extent they are willing to subject these to unannounced scrutiny provide their customers with an independent unannounced review of systems and procedures that demonstrates they are maintaining their systems in good order provide their customers with an opportunity to review the risk rating of suppliers and view suppliers in the scheme favourably, depending on performance, and adjust the frequency of customer audit, and other additional control procedures applied by the customer
This guideline explains how the BRC unannounced scheme operates, what a company needs to do if they wish to join the unannounced scheme and provides answers to some commonly asked questions.
who would like to enter the unannounced scheme but wish to avoid having the documentation audit on a day when key staff are absent.
It is important that this information remains up to date and any changes are notified to your Certification Body in a timely manner. Your certification Body will probably issue you with a new contract for the unannounced audit scheme. Audit Dates - When can I expect the audit? For an option 1 Audit: The audit may occur at any stage from 3 to 12 months of the audit due date, but will typically be within the last four months of the certification cycle. The proposed audit date will not be notified to you in advance of the audit.
Month Initial audit Opt into unannounced audits Unannounced audit Audit report and certificate
10 11 12 13 14 15
The audit will take place on a weekday and the earliest start time will be agreed with you by the certification body in advance based on shift patterns. For an option 2 Audit: For unannounced option 2 audits the audit is split into two parts of equal duration. Part 1 of this audit will be an unannounced audit of GMP ie of the production areas and activity. This part of the audit will take place from 6 to 10 months of the audit due date. Part 2 of this audit will be an announced audit of documentation and records. This part of the audit will take place within 28 days up to and including the anniversary of the last audit date.
Month Initial audit Opt into unannounced audits Unannounced GMP audit Announced Documentation Audit Audit report and certificate
10 11 12 13 14 15
The audit will take place on a weekday and the earliest start time will be agreed with you by the certification body in advance based on shift patterns. Can I block dates if they are not convenient? It is expected that Standards are maintained at all times and that your site is audit ready.
However there is no point in the auditor turning up during a factory shut down or periods of refurbishment when no production is taking place. For option 1 audits up to 15 days may be excluded. For option 2 audits up to 10 days may be excluded. Any such dates must be communicated to the Certification Body at the time of opting into the unannounced audit scheme. It is important to keep your Certification Body updated on any dates when there will be no production.
Will the audit be longer than my Standard BRC audit? The audit duration will be calculated using the BRC audit duration calculator and will be the same as for an announced audit. Will the actual audit be different from my previous announced audit? The audit procedures and content are the same for both announced and unannounced audits. However, the audit will begin with an inspection of the production facilities and this will normally commence within 30 minutes of the auditor arriving on site. For option 2 unannounced audits the first day will concentrate on GMP and production areas and the second on documentation and records.
If your site achieves a grade C+ it is no longer eligible to remain in the unannounced scheme, the next audit will automatically revert to the announced scheme and will take place 6 months after the date of your unannounced audit.
We have not previously been certificated to the BRC Standard. How do we proceed? The first BRC audit for any site must be an announced audit. Following successful completion of this initial audit (i.e. the company obtains a grade A or B) then you can opt into the unannounced scheme. What happens if I only produce Seasonal Products? Seasonal sites are eligible for the unannounced audit schemes; however, the following rules apply: The expected seasonal production dates must be communicated to the Certification Body when you notify your certification body of your intention to join the unannounced scheme. No dates may be excluded within the production season
If an Option 2 Unannounced audit has been selected then the planned document review audit will normally occur before the season and the unannounced Good Manufacturing Practice audit.