Complaints and notifications

You can make a complaint to the Board about a Certification Authority if you believe it has not properly carried out one of its core functions. In practice, many complaints relate to concerns that a vehicle may have been certified as self-contained when it may not meet the self-containment requirements. This may indicate that the Certification Authority has not properly carried out its core function of issuing certificates of self-containment.

The Board can consider a complaint where a Certification Authority has allegedly:

• failed or is failing to carry out one or more of its core functions
• been negligent in carrying out one or more of its core functions
• carried out one or more of its core functions improperly. 

'Core functions’ mean: 

• appointing vehicle inspectors
• issuing certificates of self-containment, including ensuring that inspections are carried out against and in accordance with requirements prescribed by the Regulations and the Notice
• making entries in the register of self-contained vehicles. 

To consider a complaint about a certification authority, we require the person making the complaint to have sufficient knowledge and information to support their complaint. They must also be in a position to engage with the Board about their complaint in an ongoing way. It is not enough for someone to have seen or taken a photo of a vehicle that they think is not self-contained and send it to the Board as a complaint. The Board will not accept such information as a complaint.