· Any information that MSTND staff, subcontractors, or committee members receive—regardless of the format—during the course of conducting audit activities, other certification activities, or any other interactions with an organization—must be treated as strictly confidential and cannot be shared with any third party (unless specifically authorized by the organization or individual in question, as per ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015). Any organization with a right to audit or assess MSTND will also be subject to the obligation to keep all information confidential.

· Unless otherwise required by law, the client or individual in question shall be informed in advance of any confidential information that MSTND is required by law to disclose to a third party.

· However, the company reserves the right to notify the appropriate authorities of any event as soon as it becomes apparent that it is operating outside of the law or that its business activities endanger the safety of its employees, clients, or the environment. Such reporting will only be done with senior management's approval.

· Every record at MSTND will be kept safe and only authorized employees will have access to it through password-protected electronic files or paper records. The information generated by subcontractors during the course of an audit will be the only thing they can access. Information will only be released to organizations that can show that they have a valid (legal) right to access it, including Accreditation Bodies.

· All employees, subcontractors, chief executive officers, and committee members must sign a confidentiality agreement and consent to the MSTND confidentiality policy. Subcontractors will also have to sign a contract containing a duty to maintain confidentiality.

· The legal entity in charge of certification activities is MSTND . In this Policy and Public Statement, references to MSTND relate to these legal entities.

· The managers, employees, and subcontractors of MSTND are fully aware of the significance of maintaining objectivity when carrying out its certification activities. Therefore, MSTND will make sure that all of its employees and other personnel are and will continue to be impartial in all of its dealings with clients or potential clients. The following guidelines have been set in order to guarantee that impartiality is upheld and is demonstrable.

· [Business] In order to guarantee that there would be no conflict of interest, certificates are only granted after being reviewed by a separate, qualified, and independent member of the management team who was not participating in the audit.

· MSTND does not, and has never offered, to provide businesses or people with consulting or any other type of consulting.

· For its certified clients, MSTND does not now and has never offered an internal audit service.

· MSTND has no ownership or financial stake in any other business that provides consulting services linked to certification.

· [firm] has no relationships with businesses that provide consulting or other services that might be interpreted as having an influence on the certification services that the firm provides, and it will not establish any. The Committee for Impartiality shall evaluate every proposed partnership before it is formed, including relationships with other companies. Any existing connections with businesses, associations, and people will be regularly risk reviewed to make sure the relationship doesn't affect the certification process's impartiality.

· Anyone working for MSTND or under contract must keep records of all the relationships they have had, both past and present, with other businesses. MSTND will use the information to identify any threats to impartiality and will not use that individual in any capacity until they can prove that there is no conflict of interest. Any situation, past or present, that may present a potential conflict of interest must be declared.

· In cases when a staff member or subcontractor has a history of relationship, MSTND will not assign them to an audit. In rare circumstances, and at the sole discretion of the Technical Manager or Directors, a person or subcontractor with a history of relationships may be assigned to an audit even if those relationships must have ended at least two years ago.

· MSTND does not and will not offer any commission, "finders fees," or other inducements to any person or business in exchange for client referrals unless: The terms and conditions of any such referral are spelled out in detail and are verifiable; additionally, it is shown that the fee is only for a referral and that the payment of a commission has no bearing on the results of an audit.

· The procedure by which any such payment is made to a person or entity (usually a consultant) asking for the commission for referrals has undergone risk assessment (to determine the possibility of an intolerable danger to impartiality).

· A purchase order and invoice are always included with these payments, which are all tracked, recorded, and traceable.

· Regarding the implementation of a certain standard for that company, MSTND does not provide any unique training to any company. All of the company's training programs are open to any interested parties and are of a generic character.

· In the event that MSTND discovers a link that connects it to the operations of a management system consultancy, it will take the necessary measures to remove it from all marketing and linkages.

· There is not and will not be any pressure placed on auditors or anyone else participating in the certification process to reach a specific conclusion about the audit's outcome.

· The impartiality norms of MSTND prohibit outsourcing auditors to consulting firms.

· There are no referral fees due to the consulting organization.

· contact with clients or consulting organizations based on facts.

· Respect for all company policies and accreditation requirements.

· Apart from its primary business of certification, MSTND will not provide any other services that could be deemed contradictory.

· MSTND will not use any professionals who don't adhere to its ethical standards.

Any information that MSTND staff, subcontractors, or committee members receive—regardless of the format—during the course of conducting audit activities, other certification activities, or any other interactions with an organization—must be treated as strictly confidential and cannot be shared with any third party (unless specifically authorized by the organization or individual in question, as per ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015). Any organization with a right to audit or assess MSTND will also be subject to the obligation to keep all information confidential.