Accreditation Requirements and Procedure

WRAP encourages all commercial and civil society organizations that are qualified to perform professional and objective evaluations of manufacturing facilities to apply for accreditation. These organizations are referred to as “monitors” in the following discussion. Their principals, employees, consultants, et al. who will be directly involved in WRAP monitoring activities are called “designated personnel.”

Accreditation Requirements

I. Independence

• Monitors and their designated personnel cannot own any financial interest (including but not limited to equity, debt, or assets) nor hold legal, titular, membership, employment or representational interests or relationships in either the companies or the facilities that participate in WRAP’s Certification Programs.
• Monitors and their designated personnel cannot be directly or indirectly related in a legal or familial capacity to the facilities and companies that participate in a WRAP Certification Program.
• Monitors and their designated personnel are prohibited from receiving, at any time, any compensation or promise thereof beyond the reasonable inspection fee negotiated with a factory (which must be reported to WRAP: see below). This does not preclude the monitor from receiving additional fees for additional legitimate inspections.

II. Skills (with respect to each country for which accreditation is sought)

• Working knowledge of the WRAP Production Principles and the evidence of compliance stipulated in the Production Facility Self-Assessment Handbook and the WRAP Monitoring and Reporting Procedures Manual.
• Working knowledge of the laws and regulations that apply to the relevant category of manufacturing facilities of the specific jurisdiction, including but not limited to the areas of:
  • Labor(all laws and regulations applicable to the employment of personnel and to labor relations)
  • Occupational safety, health, and hygiene
  • Environmental impact
  • Exports and imports
• Working knowledge of the native language where the facility is located and the predominant language(s) used by its employees. The monitor must include at least one individual with this language capability on every on-site monitoring visit.
• Experience and working knowledge of shop floor and clerical operations of a manufacturing facility. The monitor must include at least one individual with this experience on every on-site monitoring visit.

Minimum Qualifications:

• 3 years audit experience (verifiable)
• Companies with solid reputation
• Other accreditations( ISO, SA8000, ...etc.)

III. Accreditation Process and Fee

• The monitor must provide WRAP with all relevant materials that support the qualification requirements for accreditation, including but not limited to:
  • Description of the organization and its juridical status in the country or countries in question, and in the country of its headquarters.
  • Relevant experience and work history of the enterprise, including name and description of some of its current clientele.
  • Three professional references for services performed that can be independently verified by WRAP.
  • Names and qualifications of all designated personnel (see above) including a one-page Curriculum Vitae for each.
  • Affidavit signed by the chief executive officer attesting to the accuracy of all information provided for accreditation, and to the monitor’s compliance with the above requirements (including “Independence” and “Skills”).
  • The monitor transfers the appropriate fee to WRAP. For the fee and duration of accreditation, please click on FAQs.
• For each WRAP Certification Program, a list of all countries for which it seeks accreditation.
  
• All designated personnel (see above) must complete a WRAP authorized Monitor Training Course. (WRAP may grant Provisional Accreditation until such time as a course becomes available to a given monitor.)
• Based on the monitor’s performance in the course and on its compliance with the above requirements, WRAP decides whether or not to grant accreditation.

Please contact WRAP for up-to-date information before beginning the application process.

IV. Inspection Fees and Regulations

• WRAP gives the list of accredited monitors to production facilities and the latter choose whichever one they want to perform the initial (or, later, the re-certification) inspection. The factory and the monitor negotiate the fee. WRAP does not participate in either the selection of the monitor or the negotiation of the fee.
• WRAP requires each monitor to make certain unannounced follow-up inspections to factories that it or other monitors have previously inspected. The cost of these inspections are borne by all monitors, but, for a given monitor, the cost will never exceed 10% of the sum of the WRAP-sanctioned fees that it has billed in the previous 12 months. Monitors, then, should plan for this maximum cost when negotiating initial and re-certification fees with factories.
• WRAP requires a written synopsis of all fee agreements for the purpose of monitoring costs and scheduling unannounced inspections. The participating manufacturing facility and the selected monitor both agree that WRAP reserves the right to review the original monitoring agreement between the parties at any time. WRAP will keep this information confidential.
• WRAP reserves the right to select any accredited monitor to perform unannounced follow-up inspections for any currently certified manufacturing facilities. WRAP will work with the monitor to have this done in a way that is reasonable for the integrity of the Certification Program as well as for the monitor, under the terms and conditions stipulated above.