CIPRO retains its ISO 9001 certification status

Pretoria, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 - After an extensive recertification audit on the entire organisation, the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) has renewed CIPRO's SANS ISO 9001:2008 certification for a further period of three years.

CIPRO first became ISO 9001 certified on 6 February 2008 for a period of three years. It is a requirement that annual audits be conducted on any certified organisation to ensure that standards are still being met. Furthermore after every 3 years a recertification audit is conducted to assess whether the organisation should still be certified. CIPRO recently concluded a SABS recertification audit (December 2010) which revealed that there were no non-conformities or irregularities against the requirements of ISO 9001 standards.  CIPRO's current performance against previous performance was reviewed as was the alignment of strategic and quality objectives and the impact thereof on performance and ultimately on service delivery.

CIPRO spends a lot of time reviewing and maintaining its management system as well as improving its where necessary. The involvement and commitment of executive and senior management is critical to the successful implementation of any quality management system. These were all confirmed and commended by the audit results. "The successful implementation of the Quality Management Systems is a strategic intervention in ensuring a process driven and customer focussed organisation" explained Lungile Dukwana the Acting CEO of CIPRO.

The report further indicated that non-conformances raised during internal audits are being effectively addressed through the corrective action system. The overall improvement in the work environment of the Customer Interface Unit was impressive and positive customer interaction has also visibly improved at CIPRO main office since the past six month's surveillance audit.

"Whereas there may be some challenges that remain, the ISO 9001 recertification of CIPRO is a major milestone for the organisation but also a vote of confidence that a better organisation will be delivered to the Commission. It will even be imperative that this translates into a better service for the customer", remarked Dukwana.

Through the merger of CIPRO and the Office of Companies and Intellectual Property Enforcement (OCIPE), the new Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) will be formed during April 2011 with broadened mandate as per the new Companies Act. Dukwana concluded, "The certification and SABS audits will be expanded to include new functions of the Commission".

Statement issued by Dr Elsabé Conradie, CIPRO, March 22 2011

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