Impartiality statement

CAS understands the importance of impartiality in carrying out its certification activities, manages conflicts of interest, and ensures the objectivity of those activities. The CEO of CAS is committed, on behalf of the certification body, to the impartiality of its operations.

How we safeguard impartiality

• An Impartiality Committee oversees our certification activities and reviews threats on an ongoing basis (§4.3.8, §5.1.1).
• We maintain an impartiality risk register identifying threats from financial, contractual, personnel and related-body sources, with documented mitigations (§4.3.10).
• CAS offers training programs for some of our certification schemes. Per §5.2.3 we explicitly do not require completion of our own training as a prerequisite for certification — equivalent training elsewhere is accepted. We never imply that purchasing our training makes certification simpler, easier, or less expensive (§5.2.2).
• A trainer who taught a candidate cannot serve as examiner, invigilator, or decision-maker for that same candidate. Our system enforces this automatically before any such assignment is made (§5.2.3 e, §9.4.4).
• Certification decisions are taken solely by competent personnel of CAS and are never delegated, outsourced, or made by anyone who participated in the candidate's training or examination (§9.4.2, §9.4.4).
• Personnel sign confidentiality and conflict-of-interest commitments and declare any actual or perceived conflicts before any assignment (§6.1.7, §6.1.8, §6.2.1).
• We do not unfairly impede or inhibit access by applicants and candidates. Membership of any association or group is never a precondition for certification (§4.3.6).

If you believe we have failed in our impartiality

Please file a complaint or, if your concern is about a specific certification decision, an appeal. Your submission will be handled by personnel not involved in the original activity.