An IAF member shall comply with applicable laws and regulations both domestic and international, and all IAF members shall act honestly, in good faith and in the best interests of IAF, not engaging in conduct likely to bring discredit upon IAF (IAF Code of Conduct – IAF PL 1:2009, Issue 2)
Accordingly, IAF shall not work with any entity or individual covered by national, international or U.S. sanctions1 (i.e. SDN listed), including entities or individuals identified as, related to, or affiliated with entities covered by these sanctions (hereinafter “sanctioned entity”).
Therefore, the IAF Board requested IAF to notify all members that national, international and U.S. sanctions shall not be violated by IAF or IAF Members.
If an IAF member identifies as a sanctioned entity, or if sanctions are violated by an IAF Member (e.g. member continues to offer accreditation services to a sanctioned entity or an IAF AB member’s accredited CAB offers (new or existing) accredited services to a sanctioned entity or to an entity with products subject to an import ban), IAF is required to take action, including suspension or withdrawal of the IAF membership.
If IAF membership is suspended, the member will not be allowed to attend any IAF meetings, to vote or comment on IAF documents, or to access the restricted area of the IAF website. Any applications in process under the MLA from the member will be placed on hold for the duration of the suspension.
With this notification, the IAF Board is mitigating risk of IAF being implicated or discredited. Not only are there severe consequences for violating these laws, but the IAF Board does not want IAF brought into disrepute or have its reputation and integrity brought into question.
This statement will come into effect as of 13 May 2022.
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IAF Meetings
Considering the important role of IAF in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), continued participation in international activities involving participants from any country is permitted where the process remains open and shared information is not proprietary or controlled (see also ISO statement GOVID-873500747-150549), except for the entities covered by sanctions.
IAF meetings can be considered as multilateral meetings and participation in technical work is allowed with technical representatives present from any country, except for the entities covered by sanctions.
1 IAF is an entity incorporated in the U.S