Appeals may be made by any interested party on any decision taken by VIMTA in respect of Product Certification regarding the granting, withdrawal, renewal, suspension or cancellation of a Licensee, redressal of complaints/disputes, provided the said party has been directly affected by the decision.

The appellant should prefer the appeal in a prescribed format to the CEO of VIMTA within 90 days from the date of the decision along with a fee of INR1000/- in the form of a Demand Draft drawn in favour of VIMTA LABS LIMITED, Payable in Hyderabad. (payment can also be made by bank transfer to VIMTA’s account)

The appeal shall, inter alia, include the following

1. Subject matter of the appeal.
2. Establish the appellant’s connection with the matter
3. Remedial measure sought by the appellant.

The CEO will acknowledge the receipt of the Appeal to the appellant within 7 days.

The CEO will do a preliminary investigation of the facts and in cases where the appeal can be resolved on basis of existing principles and guidelines, shall take a decision and inform the appellant accordingly within 15 days from the receipt of the Appeal.

In cases where the CEO is of the opinion that the appeal deserves further deliberations, he shall expeditiously put up the matter for the consideration of the CAB

In either case the appellant shall be offered an opportunity of a personal hearing in all cases where the decision is likely to go against the appeal.

The CAB shall consider the case keeping in view

1. Principles of natural justice.
2. Reputation of VIMTA.
3. Integrity of the Certification programme.

Where the Appeal is against a decision of the CAB, it shall be dealt with by a specially constituted Appeals committee whose members will be persons of repute and will not have any connection to the activities of either the appellant or VIMTA.

The appellant may attend the hearing or send a representative or not attend as deemed fit. The hearing will consider the information and evidence from the appellant and from Licensee regarding the decision and make judgement based on this information or evidence, being free to call for further evidence should it be required.

The Appeals Committee shall make a judgement and the Secretary of the Committee shall record the judgement and notify the Appellant and CAB in writing of the verdict within one month of the filing of the appeal

To ensure that there is no conflict of interest, VIMTA shall not involve personnel who have provided consultancy for a client or been employed by a client to review or approve the resolution of a complaint or appeal within 2 years following the end of the consultancy or employment.

The Appeals Committee verdict shall be final.

VIMTA shall send copy of the decision to each of the parties concerned.

The details of the verdict shall be entered in Appeals Status Register by VIMTA.

VIMTA will review the verdict and decide if any corrective action is required in VIMTA’s Certification Process. This process shall be completed within 30 days from the date of final verdict of the Appeals Committee

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction made in writing, about the standard of service, actions or lack of actions by VIMTA, affecting the client.

There may be complaints from the users or purchasers about the quality of the certified Product. It is the duty of both the manufacturer of the product and VIMTA to resolve such issues on priority

Scope:

1. Specific complaints concerning certified parameters of the product/services shall only be entertained.
2. As per the contractual Agreement, Licensee shall extend all cooperation to VIMTA to carry out a detailed investigation about the quality of the product in question. The outcome of the investigation shall be recorded in appropriate formats.
3. As far as possible the sample against which the complaint has been made shall be tested. Whenever necessary the licensee shall provide samples of the same lot to determine the correctness of the complaint.
4. In the event of a complaint being found genuine and the product/service fails to meet the specified requirements, the licensee shall arrange free replacement of the product.

Responsibility

Committee constituted by CEO.

Process for complaint handling:

1. Complaints will be received in writing, addressed to VIMTA and signed by the complainant, complete with address.
2. Telephonic and verbal complaints will be entered into the complaint register, and confirmation shall be taken in writing for proceeding further.
3. Anonymous complaints will also be recorded and assessed and action taken wherever necessary.

In order to deal with complaints effectively and to resolve the problem efficiently, the following steps shall be adopted :

1. The complaints will be acknowledged in writing within 5 working days. The letter will detail what action will be taken, who the responsible officer will be and a contact number, and the anticipated time for a response where this is known.
   
2. All written complaints will be registered.
3. Depending on the nature of complaint, the CEO will assign a suitable person(s) who will go through all the relevant records and documents to analyze the root cause of the complaint. iv) To ensure that there is no conflict of interest, VIMTA shall not involve personnel who have provided consultancy for a client or been employed by a client to verify or approve the resolution of a complaint or appeal within 2 years following the end of the consultancy or employment.
4. The assigned officials will bring out the reasons leading to the complaint, individuals responsible, measures required to rectify the shortcomings in procedures as well as in documentation, if any and recommend suitable remedial actions.
5. The CEO will ratify the recommendation made by the assigned personnel and initiate necessary actions for rectification of any short coming brought out through the analysis of the complaint.
6. The complainant will be informed in writing about the findings of the investigation.
7. Complaints from end users of the certified products shall be directed to the manufacturer of the certified product. VIMTA shall follow up to ensure satisfactory and reasonable resolution to such complaints. VIMTA reviews clients’ complaint records during surveillance activities.
8. A necessary corrective and preventive action will be taken to avoid recurrence of such complaints. The Corrective action will be entered into the VIMTA Register for closure of the Complaint.