Annual surveillance
Article 7
1. The national accreditation body shall carry out annual surveillance of each verifier to which it has issued an accreditation certificate. That surveillance shall comprise at least: (a) a site visit as referred to in Article 5(1), point (b); (b) witnessing the performance and assessing the competence of a representative number of the verifier’s staff in accordance with Article 5(1), point (c). 2. The national accreditation body shall carry out the first surveillance of a verifier in accordance with paragraph 1 within 12 months of the date on which its accreditation certificate was issued. 3. Surveillance planning shall allow the national accreditation body to assess representative samples of the verifier’s activities within the scope of the accreditation certificate and the staff involved in the verification activities, in accordance with the requirements of the harmonised standard referred to in Article 1(2). 4. On the basis of the surveillance results, the national accreditation body shall decide whether to confirm the continuation of accreditation. 5. Where a verifier carries out verification for a company under the responsibility of the administering State other than the Member State of the national accreditation body that has accredited the verifier, the national accreditation body that has accredited the verifier may ask the national accreditation body of the administering State to carry out surveillance activities on its behalf and under its responsibility.