| 1 | Objective |
| 1.1 | The objective of this document is to govern the operation of the ANAB-CFP Accreditation Committee (herein, ACAC) in accordance with the requirements of ANAB policies, procedures, and bylaws. |
| 2 | Definitions |
| 2.1 | For the purpose of this document, the relevant definitions given in ISO/IEC 17000, Conformity Assessment – Vocabulary and general principles and ISO 9000, Quality management systems – Fundamentals and vocabulary, apply.
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| 3 | Introduction |
| 3.1 | ACAC was established by the ANAB Vice President of Credentialing to be responsible for the operational aspects of the ANAB-CFP personnel certification accreditation program (herein, Program) and related activities, except as otherwise provided in the ANAB Bylaws or the Agreement for the Establishment of the ANAB-CFP Program for Food Protection Manager Certifiers dated May 28, 2002 (herein, Agreement).
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| 3.2 | The specific duties and responsibilities of the ACAC members include: |
| a) | approve key policies governing the operation of the Program; |
| b) | assuring consistency of decision making as well as the criteria used therein; |
| c) | serve on appeals and complaints task groups as appointed by the ACAC Chair; |
| d) | promote and provide guidance to market the Program; |
| e) | provide guidance regarding international initiatives supporting the Program; |
| f) | provide guidance to support educational initiatives related to the Program; |
| g) | determine areas of research required to improve the Program; |
| h) | serve on task forces / subcommittees as appointed by the ACAC Chair; |
| i) | serving on evaluation task groups (herein, ETGs) as appointed with consent of the ACAC Chair to evaluate the reports, findings and recommendations of the assessors. |
| 4 | Membership |
| 4.1 | Membership on ACAC shall reflect a balance of all interested stakeholders as outlined in the Agreement. Two members shall be appointed by CFP, the remainder appointed by ANAB. The Chair shall be appointed by ANAB. The ACAC should endeavor to disseminate information to and receive input from stakeholders across the United States involved in the certification of people to include consumers.
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| 4.2 | ACAC shall have a voting membership not less than five and not more than 10 persons. ACAC vacancies created by members leaving before the expiration of their term may be filled by appointment for the remainder of the term by the respective organizations they represent. Each ACAC member nomination by ANAB shall be submitted to CAPC for approval.
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| 4.3 | The ACAC voting membership shall include representatives from certification bodies (CBs), industry, government, consumer / public interest organizations, and other individuals (at large) concerned with third- party personnel certification activities and Food Protection Managers. Any single interest category shall be limited to less than half of the full ACAC membership.
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| 4.4 | Members shall be appointed for a term of two years and shall be eligible for reappointment for two additional terms. All membership terms shall commence on January 1st. The terms of the ACAC members shall be staggered so that no more than one-third of the positions shall conclude at the end of each calendar year. The rotation plan will assure that the Committee continues to be balanced and representative of the stakeholder interests.
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| 4.5 | ANAB and CFP will each determine how it wishes to appoint members to ACAC, and each will have the right to remove members they appointed. ANAB staff will forward names of new ACAC nominated members to the existing ACAC for confirmation.
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| 4.6 | A membership roster shall be maintained and made publicly available upon request. The name and affiliation of the ACAC Chair shall be listed on ANAB's website
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| 4.7 | A member who has decided to resign shall submit a letter of resignation to the Chair with a copy to the ANAB staff secretary.
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| 4.8 | ANAB shall appoint a non-voting staff secretary, who shall be a member of ANAB staff. |
| 5 | Officers |
| 5.1 | The ACAC officers shall consist of a Chair and (if applicable) Vice-Chair. Each officer shall serve for a term of one calendar year. The officers must be ANAB appointees to the committee.
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| 5.2 | Each officer shall be elected by the membership of ACAC and shall be eligible for re-election for up to three consecutive years, exclusive of regular ACAC membership terms, or until a successor takes office. Election shall be by open ballot.
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| 6 | Subcommittees, Task Groups, and Liaisons |
| 6.1 | The Chair of ACAC may establish advisory subcommittees and task groups to advise ACAC on its activities. Membership of such subcommittees and task groups shall not be limited to ACAC membership. The ACAC Chair with consultation from ACAC members shall select persons to serve on subcommittees, task groups and liaisons based on their recognized technical expertise, experience, training and education. The Chair must also ensure a balanced representation of stakeholders in all subcommittees, task groups and liaisons.
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| 7 | Nominations and Elections |
| 7.1 | The ANAB Vice President of Credentialing shall make nominations to the ACAC. The Vice President shall forward its annual nominating report to the staff Secretary, who shall submit it to ACAC. Prior to the last ACAC meeting of the calendar year, ACAC shall elect by open ballot individuals for each officer position for the succeeding year. |
| 8 | ACAC Committee Meetings |
| 8.1 | ACAC shall meet at least once every year A schedule of the meeting dates, times and locations shall be established at the beginning of each year. The Secretary shall distribute the schedule to the ACAC members. The schedule may subsequently be changed at the discretion of the ACAC Chair. Schedule of meetings will be placed on the ANAB website as public information.
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| 8.2 | The Chair may call special meetings. The staff Secretary may also call a special meeting. |
| 8.3 | The staff Secretary shall give notice to all ACAC members of all meetings. The notice shall include a preliminary meeting agenda containing the principal items to be considered. Agenda items will be marked to indicate what items will be in closed session. There shall also be a public notice of the meeting placed on the ANAB website indicating the availability of the open agenda, place and time of the meeting. Closed agenda items will not be shown.
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| 8.4 | At ACAC meetings, the presence of a majority of the current ACAC voting membership shall constitute a quorum which would include members who are participating virtually.
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| 8.5 | The staff secretary shall be responsible for the preparation of general and if appropriate, confidential minutes of all the ACAC meetings. Minutes shall be issued as soon as possible to all the ACAC members, but no later than two weeks prior to the next meeting. Minutes shall be distributed electronically and if there is confidential information contained in the minutes the appropriate measures will be taken to ensure that it is protected. The minutes will be approved at the next ACAC meeting.
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| 9 | Relationship of ACAC to the Certification Body |
| 9.1 | ANAB staff shall be responsible for all communications with the applicants/accredited certification bodies regarding the ACAC actions and decisions.
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| 10 | Relationship of ACAC to Assessors |
| 10.1 | ACAC will receive accreditation reports from ANAB assessors regarding the certification bodies' compliance with the CFP Accreditation Standards. It is the ANAB assessors who have the responsibility for review of the application materials and onsite assessment of the certification body. The Chair of the ACAC shall appoint an evaluation task group (ETG) to review the report submitted by the assessors. The ETG shall present the report to ACAC for an accreditation action.
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| 11 | ACAC Actions |
| 11.1 | The following actions shall require approval by a majority of the current ACAC voting membership, excluding abstentions and recusals. The voting may be at a meeting or by electronic ballot. The voting results are to be recorded and kept on file according to ANAB records management procedures.
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| a) | possible actions by ACAC to approve the accreditation status of the certification body are: |
| 1) | ACCREDITATION: certification body has successfully complied with all requirements of the Standards For Accreditation of Food Protection Manager Certification Program, and all nononconformities (herein, NCRs) found have been closed. Accreditation is for five years until the next scheduled reassessment has been completed.
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| 2) | ACCREDITATION DENIED: Action taken regarding a certification body that has applied for initial accreditation with ANAB and has not been able to close NCRs over the period of time granted by ACAC, and the certification body has not voluntarily withdrawn from the process.
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| 3) | SUSPENSION OF ACCREDITATION: Action for temporary invalidation of the statement of conformity, for all or part of the specified scope of accreditation of the certification body. A specific statement shall be issued indicating the specific scope of accreditation that is not being fulfilled. This is not an accredited category and the ANAB accreditation symbol cannot be used during this period of time in association with the specified scope.
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| 4) | PROBATIONARY ACCREDITATION: Probationary action is taken when a currently accredited certification Body has one or more NCRs regarding the requirements of the Standards For Accreditation of Food Protection Manager Certification Program and has not been able to close these NCRs over a period of time granted by ACAC. The terms of the probation will designate an additional agreed upon period of time for the NCRs to be closed. Failure to close NCRs within the period of probation may result in accreditation being suspended or withdrawn. This category is considered an accredited category and does not affect the issuance of certificates.
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| 5) | ACCREDITATION WITHDRAWN: Removal of accreditation status from a certification body due to inability to close NCRs or meet accreditation requirements. |
| 6) | MAINTAINING ACCREDITATION: Successfully demonstrates through an annual surveillance process that all of the accreditation requirements have been met over the past twelve months. ACAC will provide oversight of the assessors regarding the review of NCRs identified to see if the actions appear to be sufficient and effective.
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| b) | action(s) on proposed changes to the following documents for recommendation to the CAPC and feedback from CFP-PL-502: Operating Policy of the ANAB-CFP Accreditation Committee (ACAC) (this document). |
| 11.2 | Except for actions in 11.1, all other actions at a ACAC meeting at which a quorum is present may be taken by a simple majority of the voting members present. In the event a quorum is not present at a ACAC meeting, all substantive decisions made at the meeting must be affirmed by a majority electronic ballot vote or at a subsequent ACAC meeting at which a quorum is present.
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| 11.3 | If a ACAC vote is taken on a specific certification body in which a PCAC member has declared a conflict of interest, the member shall leave the room during discussion and vote. The member shall also abstain from voting and the abstention shall be noted in the minutes and/or voting record.
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| 12 | ACAC Hearing of Appeals |
| 12.1 | Appeals may be made by anyone materially interested in or affected by an action or inaction of ACAC that is within the scope of the Committee and the accreditation being considered. Appeals shall be handled in accordance with the appropriate ANAB procedures.
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| 13 | Complaints |
| 13.1 | Complaints may be heard by ACAC in accordance with the appropriate ANAB complaints procedure.
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| 14 | ACAC Member Participation |
| 14.1 | Absence by an ACAC member at two or more meetings in one calendar year may be construed by the ACAC as a lack of interest in serving on the ACAC. The ACAC may recommend to the appointing body (ANAB or CFP) that the appointment of the member to the ACAC be terminated.
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| 15 | Parliamentary Procedure |
| 15.1 | On questions of parliamentary procedure not covered by this policy, Roberts' Rules of Order (latest edition) shall prevail.
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| 16 | Confidentiality |
| 16.1 | The Program shall safeguard confidentiality of all information obtained in the course of accreditation activities at all levels of the ANAB organization, including any committees and/or external bodies or individuals acting on the Program's behalf.
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| 16.2 | Except as required in this document, information about a particular certification body shall not be disclosed to a third party by any Program participants, PCAC members, ANAB staff, ANAB agents, ACAC subcommittees and task group participants, or by any ANAB subcontractors without the written consent of the certification body. Where the law requires information to be disclosed to a third party, the certification body shall be notified that such information has been or will be provided.
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| 17 | Determination of Conflict of Interest |
| 17.1 | All assessors and members of ACAC are subject to the ACAC policies regarding potential conflict of interest.
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| 17.2 | If an individual has a potential conflict of interest but has not recused himself / herself or otherwise taken action to ameliorate the conflict of interest, and members of ACAC or ANAB staff believe that the conflict of interest still exists, then ACAC, through formal vote, shall determine whether or not to exercise one or more of the following options:
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| a) | exclude the ACAC member from specific discussions and voting on the issues about which the conflict of interest occurs (in conformance with clause 11.3 of this document). The individual must then either physically leave the room or not remain connected electronically; |
| b) | recommend to the CFP that the appointment of the member to ACAC be terminated. |
| 18 | Amendments |
| 18.1 | The CAPC may make changes to this policy document at any time, after consultation with or upon recommendation of CFP, and/or ACAC. |
