The IATF created five so-called IATF Oversight Offices for the administrative and operative control of the IATF certification scheme. These five IATF Oversight Offices act collectively as IATF Global Oversight.
As the central authority of the IATF, the IATF Oversight Offices are also the legal entities and thus among other things, the contract partners for the IATF-recognized Certification Bodies.
The work of IATF Oversight Offices, i.e. the IATF Global Oversight is essential to build confidence in the certification as per IATF 16949. With the recognition and monitoring by the VDA QMC, we confirm that the IATF-recognized Certification Bodies competently perform their tasks in accordance with requirements of the IATF and the VDA QMC.
The IATF Oversight Office at the VDA QMC especially performs the following tasks:
- Monitoring of the global IATF 16949 certification scheme
- Ensuring uniform auditing and certification worldwide in accordance with IATF 16949 together with the other four IATF Oversight Offices
- Supporting IATF in the harmonisation efforts with companies in the automotive industry
- Developing and maintaining a central IATF database with information for monitoring and control of the global IATF 16949 certification scheme
The IATF Global Oversight established an administrative office in Beijing (China), which is entrusted mainly with the execution of witness audits and office assessments in China and Asia-Pacific. This is IATF’s response to the fact that almost 50% of all IATF 16949 certified sites are now located in China.