TÜV AUSTRIA, consistent in the effort for the effective and continuous support of business needs of its clients and colleagues wish to inform you that FSSC 22000 has published the updated version 5.1 of the scheme. Scheme documents are available for download at https://www.fssc22000.com/scheme/scheme-documents-version-5-1/.
The main reasons for changes in the new version of FSSC 22000 V5 are:
- Strengthening the licensing process and the Integrity Program
- Compliance with GFSI Benchmarking Requirements (Version 2020.1)
- Inclusion of the Board of Stakeholders list of decisions
- Continual improvement process
The applicable requirements for audits and transition timelines are the following:
- Audits against the FSSC 22000 Scheme requirements V5 are only allowed up to latest 31 March 2021.
- Upgrade audits against FSSC 22000 Scheme requirements V5.1 shall be conducted from 1 April 2021 until 31 March 2022.
- It is not possible to conduct upgrade surveillance audits directly from V4.1 to V5.1.
- Initial certification audits (Stage 1 + Stage 2): both the Stage 1 and Stage 2 audit shall be conducted to Version 5.1 when the audit takes place from 1 April 2021 onwards OR conduct the Stage 1 to Version 5 (when conducted before 1 April 2021) and Stage 2 to Version 5.1 when conducted on or after 1 April 2021.
- Recertification audits may be conducted directly from Version 4.1 to Version 5.1 where the recertification audit takes place on or after 1 April 2021 as a result of a certificate validity extension due to Corona. In these cases, the first surveillance audit shall also be conducted in 2021 to meet the calendar year and certification requirements.
- An upgrade audit is a full audit against the new FSSC 22000 V5.1 requirements and may be conducted unannounced where needed in order to meet the 3-yearly unannounced audit requirements.
TÜV AUSTRIA, with its specialized personnel, will keep you constantly informed about the developments that concern FSSC 22000 Certification.