General requirements
Article 7
1. Scheme owners shall develop and maintain national certification schemes and govern their operations. 2. Scheme owners may subcontract all or part of their tasks to a third party. When subcontracting to a private party, scheme owners shall set out the duties and responsibilities of all parties by contract. Scheme owners shall remain responsible for all subcontracted activities performed by their subcontractors. 3. Scheme owners shall perform their monitoring activities, if applicable, at least on the basis of the following information: (a) information coming from certification bodies, national accreditation bodies, and relevant market surveillance authorities; (b) information resulting from its own or another authority’s audits and investigations; (c) complaints and appeals received pursuant to Article 15. 4. Scheme owners shall inform the Cooperation Group of revisions to the national certification schemes. That notification shall provide adequate information for the Cooperation Group to issue recommendations to scheme owners and opinions about the updated national certification schemes.