News

There has recently been some inaccurate reporting surrounding the reasons for the current suspension of CMI’s accreditation.

CMI has attempted to maintain some distance between it and the press however, in a couple of instances, we see that this has allowed some parties to provide their own ‘interpretation’ of the notices we have published on our website and issued to our valued clients. As a result of this, we have decided to provide clarity to a few of the salient points, where some creative licensing had been applied to them. So:

1. JAS-ANZ identified some issues with CMIs internal documentation, which we have now addressed. JAS-ANZ is now booked in on the 13^th of August to conduct an onsite review to verify the implementations of the changed documents.
2. CMI did NOT base any ACP certifications on testing that was not valid. All four of the ACP certificates, revised and supplied to JAS-ANZ, were peer reviewed by JAS-ANZ’s experts and all were accepted. This includes a review of the Core Combustibility content of all four ACP. The point raised by JAS-ANZ was that the Core Combustibility content testing, conducted by the CSIRO and CETEC, was not covered in either labs accreditation. CMI advised JAS-ANZ that this testing was independent of the claims of compliance and WAS NOT relied upon for the revision and reissue of the four ACP Certifications; rather, it was used to determine the Core combustibility as required by the VBA.
3. JAS-ANZ pointed out to CMI, that our own policy for accepting test reports did not cover the use of testing from Accredited Test Labs without the relevant testing under its scope of accreditation. Remedy requested by JAS-ANZ, CMI to revise our policy and procedure to cover this situation. This has been completed.
4. Why did CMI opt to withdraw from the CodeMark Scheme in NZ? As stated previously, what it mainly came down to was the current uncertainty around the future of CodeMark in NZ, and the subsequent potential risk to our company and the Certificate Holders. CMI will await for either the revised Scheme or Scheme replacement before making a decision to apply to provide Product Certification into New Zealand under the Regulations again. As stated previously, CMI will continue issuing Evaluation Reports which can be used as evidence of conformity against either the NZBC and/or the BCA.

We trust that the above clarifies the situation and ask that any news outlet wishing to ‘quote’ CMI on any of the above, may also provide their readers with a link to this notice.

Kind Regards,

John Thorpe
Chief Executive

Previous updates – https://certmark.org/articles/2019/07/important-notice/

Update 24/07/2019 – Important Notice Update

Update 17/07/2019 – Please see the following link for the latest update. CMI Suspension Update 20190717.pdf

11/07/2019
To our valued clients,

Please be advised that CMI has, this morning, received a notification from JAS-ANZ of a temporary suspension in relation to several minor procedural matters that relate to ISO 17065. JAS-ANZ has provided CMI with a detailed list of six (6) actions to be undertaken in order to have the suspension lifted. CMI was surprised to receive this notification as we are audited regularly by JAS-ANZ, including repeated reviews of the six points raised. That said, we are confident that we can close out the non-conformities in a timely manner.

During this period, CMI will not be able to issue any new certifications. CMI will continue with all Surveillance activities for the Australian schemes; however, should the surveillance result in the recommendation to reissue the certificate, reissuance of the Certificate will not occur until the current matters are resolved. For clients waiting to progress to the 2019 building code under CodeMark Australia, your certification under BCA 2016 Amendment 1 remains valid during the 12 month transition period; however, it is at the discretion of the state or territory authority as to whether they will accept the current CodeMark. It should be noted that CodeMark is only one form of evidence of compliance with the BCA.

CMI wishes to assure all of our clients that current certificates in the marketplace are not affected by the suspension and that CMI will be working diligently to have the suspension lifted as soon as possible. In the interim, CMI will directing all of it resources to the rectification of these issues and ask for your patience during this time. CMI will provide a further update to our clients early next week and request that correspondence be limited to emergencies only. Anything urgent should be directed to office@certmark.org.

John Thorpe
CEO / Director

Further to CertMark Internationals (CMI) notification of the withdrawal of 9 CodeMark Certificates last week, CMI wish to issue the following update.

• Firstly; CMI wishes to advise that the withdrawal of the Certificates in no way implies that any of the products certified do not meet the requirements of the National Construction Code (NCC) as detailed on the certificates.
• Secondly; all construction previously installed with a reliance on the Withdrawn certificates, prior to the date of withdrawal, is to be considered compliant with the requirements of the National Construction Code (NCC) as detailed on the certificates.

CMI is currently undertaking a review of the withdrawn certificates and expects the revised certificates to be lodged with JAS-ANZ for approval end of next week.

In several cases, the Certificate Holders have opted not to renew their certifications, as a result of having moved to replacement paneling systems.  In such cases, as detailed above, any construction previously installed with a reliance on the Withdrawn certificates, prior to the date of withdrawal, is to be considered compliant with the requirements of the National Construction Code (NCC) as detailed on the certificates.

 

The following notification has been provided by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) to assist in preparing the market for the introduction of the National Construction Code (NCC) 2019. Further information can be found at;

https://www.abcb.gov.au/Connect/Articles/2019/01/14/What-to-Expect-in-NCC-2019

Changes being introduced in NCC 2019 are almost here. As seen in the public comment draft released last year, there’s lots to take in! Read on to find out more about key changes, dates and what’s available to help you understand it.

What’s changed?

All Volumes

Performance

Quantifying many of the NCC Performance Requirements to provide more performance-based compliance options is a key feature of NCC 2019.  You’ll see more Performance Requirements quantified with the introduction of 20 new Verification Methods (VMs).

Readability

The ABCB’s readability project aims to improve the NCC requirements to be more readily understood. Introducing consistent NCC Governing Requirements is the first step of this major piece of work with all three Volumes of the NCC having the same requirements from 2019. Significant changes have also been made to the structure of NCC Volume Three, the Plumbing Code of Australia.

 

NCC Volumes One and Two

Safety

New VM for construction in bushfire-prone areas.

Health and amenity

New condensation management provisions.

Accessibility

New VMs for access to and from a building and for ramps.

Sustainability

New heating and cooling load limits for residential buildings using the NatHERS DTS compliance pathway.

NCC Volume One only

Safety

Fire sprinklers
New DTS Provisions for fire sprinkler systems, for apartment buildings and other residential buildings (i.e. Class 2 and 3 buildings) 4 storeys and above and up to 25 metres in effective height (generally those buildings 4 to 8 storeys).

Occupiable outdoor areas

New DTS Provisions clarifying requirements for occupiable outdoor areas, such as roof-top bars and cinemas.

Fire safety VM

A new, non-mandatory VM for fire safety introduced (NCC Schedule 7). This VM can be used for developing a Performance Solution for up to 24 Performance Requirements. Its adoption will be delayed until 1 May 2020 to allow time for training and support.

Sustainability

Energy efficiency
The commercial building energy efficiency requirements (i.e. Section J) are significantly changed, including new VMs for NABERS and Green Star. This change is subject to a 1 year transition period from 1 May 2019, during which time, either the NCC 2016 or NCC 2019 requirements may be used.

Accessibility

Accessible adult change facilities (AACF)

AACFs are sanitary facilities with additional features to assist people with more profound or complex disabilities who are unable to independently use standard accessible facilities. New requirements mean these facilities are required in certain new or redeveloped public buildings such as shopping centres, museums, theatres, sporting venues and airports.

NCC Volume Two only

New and improved acceptable construction practices (ACPs), including new ACPs for masonry and attachment of decks and balconies and improved ACPs for roof and wall cladding and fire safety.

NCC Volume Three only

New and consolidated requirements for heated water temperature control, cross-connection control and rainwater harvesting and use.

NCC 2019 Key Dates

Preview released	NCC 2019 adopted	Energy efficiency transition ends	FSVM adopted
February 2019	1 May 2019	1 May 2020	1 May 2020