About Us
We are an accredited certification body that operates in the field of wood & wood products.
CORPORATE PURPOSE
African Certification and Testing (PTY) Ltd (ACT) has been established to provide a vehicle in which to operate a mark scheme for the benefit of the utility wooden pole industry in Africa. The company has SANAS Accreditation for ISO/IEC 17065 and ISO/IEC 17021.
OWNERSHIP & DIRECTORS
ACT is established with independent Shareholders who appoint the Managing Director of which none are associated or linked to any of the ACT clients. The name of the incumbent Managing Director is available from the ACT office or website.
ACT operates independently from other Industry Associations and bodies. Other industry bodies are not able to influence its policies or decisions. As a result, there are no related bodies to ACT. Currently ACT does not carry on any other business activities apart from certification and testing within the wood pole industry.
ACT employs full time, part time and contracted staff, to ensure all activities (administration, auditing, testing.) are adequately resourced with qualified and competent staff. ACT takes full responsibility for all personnel matters such as impartiality, training, competence and confidentiality.
ACT clients are all wooden pole treatment plants who are committed to supply the end users with wooden poles that comply with customer standards and contractual obligations.
TYPES OF MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
& CERTIFICATION SCHEMES
ISO/IEC 17065
ACT is currently accredited for ISO/IEC 17065 for product certification with regards to SANS 754, SANS 457-3, SANS 1288, SANS 1783 – Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.1, 5.2 and SANS 10096. ACT has applied for an extension of scope to include SANS 457-2 and SANS 753.
ISO/IEC 17021-1
ACT is currently accredited for ISO/IEC 17021-1 for Quality Management System Certification for EAC 6: Wood and Wood Products (ISO 9001).
Note: Documents that have a reference number ending with “.21” or “.sm” zare applicable to ISO/IEC 17021-1 and saw-milling (ISO/IEC 17065) respectively.
Financial Support & General information on Fees
The company is financially independent and the ACT Shareholders ensures the supervision of all the loans and finances to the company.
ACT was originally funded by the Managing Director in the form of seed capital. Currently ACT is funded by means of permit, inspection and auditing fees based on non-discriminatory rates as per the ACT pricing model.
AUDITING & INSPECTION PROGRAM
ACT has developed an audit and inspection programme to satisfy the requirements of ISO/IEC 17065 and ISO/IEC 17021 as well as wooden pole end user contracts and specifications.
ACT have consulted with large wooden pole customers such as Eskom (South Africa) and Kaap Agri to determine the quality standards required by the end users.
Objectives of the auditing program.
An auditing and inspection program has been developed for all the ACT clients in order to ensure the product supplied under the ACT mark continuously complies to the product standard and end user requirements.
- Reflect the level of performance of the ACT clients in the wooden pole industry in the occurrences of product failures, non-conformances and/or customer complaints.
- Contribute to the improvement of the ACT client’s quality management systems.
- Enable end users to obtain and maintain confidence in the ACT clients.
- Enable ACT clients to comply to legal and contractual requirements.
- Reduce risks to ACT clients and the wooden pole industry.
- To contribute to the improvement of the wooden pole industry by reviewing ACT clients audits and inspection.