Security level: RINA/CL/SENSITIVE

How to submit

Compliments, Complaints, Information on certified organizations or Appeals

to RINA Services

This document describes how to submit compliments or complaints to RINA Services concerning its activities,
submit information concerning an organisation which has been certified by RINA Services or file an appeal against
a decision issued by RINA.

Compliments, complaints, information and appeals on RINA Services activities, or information on organizations
certified by RINA Services, shall be submitted via e-mail to:

[email protected]

Moreover, appeals shall also be despatched to the pertinent RINA Services office, by registered letter with return
receipt to the relevant RINA Services office managing the appellant’s contract.

Compliments and complaints shall include all the data required to allow RINA Services to properly identify the
activity involved, together with the relevant claimant contacts.

Information will detail all the relevant data concerning the certified organisation and the certified product/service
involved, together with the relevant claimant contacts.

Communication confirming the receival of the claim (compliment, complaint or information) will be provided by
RINA Services to the claimant.

The complaint or information will be analysed and the subject investigated in order to properly manage and
resolve the issue in the most effective way in a timely manner, depending from the action required.

RINA S.p.A. | Via Corsica, 12 - 16128 Genova | P. +39 010 53851 | [email protected] | www.rina.org

C.F. / P. IVA / R.I. Genova N. 03794120109 | Cap. Soc. € 50.985.823,50 i.v.

 Security level: RINA/CL/SENSITIVE

At the end of the investigation the outcome of the analysis and action taken will be communicated to the
claimant by RINA Services.

Please note that, to effectively manage the submission of compliments, complaints, information or appeals, the
official channels will be used:

• E-mail to [email protected] for submission of any compliment, complaint or information;

• E-mail to [email protected] and registered letter with return receipt to the pertinent RINA Services
office, for submission of any appeal.

Personal data collected will be processed in accordance with Article 13 of the GDPR, as referred in the PRIVACY
NOTICE, which shall be provided undersigned together with the compliment, complaint, or information in order

to allow the correct management of the same.

For any report concerning violations of the Code of Ethics, human rights, laws and regulations, or to GDPR please
refer to the dedicated platform at the following link:

Whistleblowing - RINA.org

Please note that the whistleblowing platform allow the possibility to submit anonymous claims.

Please find hereinafter the methods adopted by RINA Services - Certification Division for the management of
claims, being these compliments, complaints or information about customers, or appeals and disputes, as defined
in the current version of the applicable RINA Service internal instruction (IS-CERTI-ACP-03), of which this
procedure is an abstract for the public.

RINA S.p.A. | Via Corsica, 12 - 16128 Genova | P. +39 010 53851 | [email protected] | www.rina.org

C.F. / P. IVA / R.I. Genova N. 03794120109 | Cap. Soc. € 50.985.823,50 i.v.

 Security level: RINA/CL/SENSITIVE

IS-CERTI-ACP-03-P

Procedure for the Management of Compliments,

RINA Complaints, Information, Appeals and Disputes Rev. 00

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................. 4

2. CLAIMS RECEPTION ........................................................................................................................................... 5

3. COMMUNICATION TO ACCREDITATION/RECOGNITION BODIES ................................................................. 5

4. PUBLICATION ....................................................................................................................................................... 5

5. COMPLAINTS / INFORMATIONS MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................. 5

5.1 COMPLAINT RECECEIPT AND REGISTRATION ...................................................................................... 5

5.2 CLAIM ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT ACTION(S) PROPOSAL ............................................................ 6

5.3 CLAIM MANAGEMENT ACTION(S) PROPOSAL APPROVAL/REJECTION ............................................. 6

5.4 CLAIM MANAGEMENT ACTION(S) IMPLEMENTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS ................................ 7

5.5 CLAIM CLOSURE ........................................................................................................................................ 7

6. APPEALS CONTROL............................................................................................................................................ 7

7. DISPUTES ............................................................................................................................................................. 8

8. ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 8

PRIVACY NOTICE
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Procedure for the Management of Compliments,

RINA Complaints, Information, Appeals and Disputes Rev. 00

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1. DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Appeal: Written communication stating disagreement about decisions taken by RINA Certification concerning
the non-issuance, suspension or withdrawal of certification. For CDM activity under UNFCCC accreditation, an
appeal is defined as “A CDM client organization’s (CDM PP – project participant) request for a review by an
independent appeal panel of various decisions taken by a DOE (Designated Operational Entity) in respect of
validation and/or verification/certification functions”.

CECPL: RINA Certification Compliance & Process Improvement Unit.

Claim: any compliments, complaints about RINA activities or information about RINA customers.

Complaint: Communication stating dissatisfaction about services supplied by RINA.

For CDM activity under UNFCCC accreditation, complaint is defined as “formal expression of dissatisfaction,
made verbally, electronically or in writing, regarding the performance of a DOE or its outsourced entities in
relation to its validation or verification/certification functions from any source, such as clients, project
participants, the general public or its representatives, government bodies, non-governmental organization,
etc.”

Compliment: Communication stating an exceptional level of satisfaction about services supplied by RINA.

CSI: RINA Committee for Safeguarding Impartiality

Dispute: Disagreement situation that may not be addressed as complaint or appeal (e.g. controversy,
discord). For CDM activity under UNFCCC accreditation, dispute is defined as “disagreement between a DOE
and its client regarding the DOE’s recommendation and/or opinion/decisions made at various stages in the
course of its validation and/or verification/certification activities.

DOE: Designated operational entity. A DOE is an independent auditor accredited by the CDM Executive
Board (CDM EB) to validate project proposals or verify whether implemented projects have achieved planned
greenhouse gas emission reductions

Information: Communication stating a dissatisfaction with the product/service supplied by organisations

certified by RINA, including anonymous ones.

RINA: RINA Services Certification Division

Scheme Manager: RINA personnel responsible for the management of specific certification scheme(s).
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2. CLAIMS RECEPTION

The official reception channel for any kind of claim is the address [email protected].

RINA personnel receiving contact from any parties interested in submitting a claim will address the claimant to use
the official channel and submit the claim via e-mail to [email protected], in order to allow the claim
management process to be correctly commenced.

Other communication channels, such as customer interface person coordinates, reference OU e-mails, commercial
or project meetings, telephone calls, faxes, letters, other means, would not lead to the official recognition of the
claim. Any claimant using those non-recognised channels will be addressed to the official reception channel for the
claim submission: [email protected].

3. COMMUNICATION TO ACCREDITATION/RECOGNITION BODIES

If any Accreditation Body (or any other type of external Recognition Body) is involved in a claim, by taking direct
contact to require updates on the claim management, or in other ways, relevant updates will be provided to this
party on the status of the claim management.

4. PUBLICATION

RINA Legal Affairs unit will be involved together with RINA customer involved in the claim and the claimant, to
determine if any information on the claim shall be made public, and the extent of the information to be eventually
publicly shared.

5. COMPLAINTS / INFORMATIONS MANAGEMENT

5.1 COMPLAINT RECECEIPT AND REGISTRATION

Any RINA OU receiving contact from any parties interested in submitting a claim will address the claimant to
use the official channel and submit the claim via e-mail to [email protected] in order to allow the
claim management process to be correctly commenced.

RINA Compliance section, upon receiving the claim through the official channel (e-mail to
[email protected]) will, within 10 working days acknowledge receipt to the claimant and record,
assigning it to the pertinent RINA office(s) for analysis and management.

All records relevant to any claim received (including the claimants’ contact details, incoming and outgoing
communications, evidence of corrections carried out, etc.) are permanently filed in a dedicated RINA
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database.

When a complaint is registered in the dedicated RINA database, a notification is automatically sent to:

1) The responsible(s) of RINA office(s) assigned to the claim management and analysis;
2) The Director of RINA Compliance Unit; and
3) The Scheme Manager for the certification scheme of eventual interest for the claim.

5.2 CLAIM ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT ACTION(S) PROPOSAL

The claim is analysed by the relevant RINA office(s) and within 10 working days from its registration, action(s)
for its management is(are) submitted for approval:

a) to the Scheme Manager of the relevant certification scheme, if the claim refers the claimant’s
dissatisfaction about the product/service supplied by an organisation certified by RINA (INFORMATION);
OR
b) to the Director of RINA Compliance Unit, if the claim refers to the claimant’s dissatisfaction about services
supplied by RINA (COMPLAINT).

If the complaint is evaluated as not consistent, the action proposed for its management will be the claim
rejection, accompanied by appropriate justification.

5.3 CLAIM MANAGEMENT ACTION(S) PROPOSAL APPROVAL/REJECTION

The Scheme Manager of the relevant (in case of INFORMATION) or the Director of RINA Compliance Unit (in
case of COMPLAINT), verifies and approves or reject, with eventual GLEGA support, the action(s) proposed,
ensuring an independent verification not being directly involved in the activities subject of the complaint.

If the Scheme Manager of the relevant (in case of INFORMATION) or the Director of RINA Compliance Unit1
(in case of COMPLAINT) evaluates the action(s) proposed to be inadequate for the claim management, if this
is rejected, appropriate action(s) shall be re-submitted for approval.

In addition, the eventual need to raise an internal non-conformity is considered by the Scheme Manager of the
relevant (in case of INFORMATION) or the Director of RINA Compliance Unit (in case of COMPLAINT), to
address eventual systemic lacks that could lead to the recurrence of the cause for the claimant
dissatisfaction.2

1CDM Scheme Manager is responsible to manage the complaints relevant to CDM activities, instead of CECPL Director.
The OU receiving the complaint will gather and verify all necessary information for evaluating the validity of the complaint, investigating the
complaint and proposing what actions are to be taken in response to it. The actions to be taken are approved by the CDM Scheme Manager.
The CDM Scheme Manager ensures that people engaged in the complaint handling process are different from those who carried out the
validation or verification/certification activities
2This is always the case for complaints relevant to validation and verification of CDM projects
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In such case, the pertinent RINA Compliance Unit personnel is notified in order for an internal non-conformity
to be raised, which would be managed in accordance with the relevant RINA.

5.4 CLAIM MANAGEMENT ACTION(S) IMPLEMENTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

After the action(s) approval, it will be actuated according to the required implementation schedule by the
defined RINA personnel, and the claimant will be notified about the relevant communication/updates on the
claim management status.

In the case of claim referring to the claimant’s dissatisfaction about the product/service supplied by an
organisation certified by RINA (INFORMATION), the certified organization could be contacted in order to allow
collection of the relevant evidence useful for the claim management, eventually referring to general or specific
matters pertaining the claim subject.

Eventual other parties eventually involved (i.e. Accreditation/Recognition Body, RINA certified organization
subject of the claim, other as deemed necessary) will be notified accordingly about the relevant
communication/updates on the claim management status, as considered appropriate.

Once the action(s) foreseen for the claim management have been actuated, the claimant will be notified about
their completion and the claim completion date is updated in the dedicated database.

5.5 CLAIM CLOSURE

In absence of the claimant’s submission of additional relevant evidence the claim will be closed officially by
RINA after:

c) one month, if the claim refers the claimant’s dissatisfaction about the product/service supplied by an
organisation certified by RINA (INFORMATION);
d) OR
e) two months, if the claim refers to the claimant’s dissatisfaction about services supplied by RINA
(COMPLAINT).

RINA Compliance Unit personnel periodically monitors the status of claims and the effectiveness of their
management, moreover, as soon as the due date for completion is set in the dedicated RINA database for the
management of the claim, an automatic e-mail reminder is sent to the relevant responsible for the claim
management every first day of the month to notify eventual claims to be closed in subsequent month, or
overdue.

6. APPEALS CONTROL

Appeals against decisions taken by RINA concerning the non-issuance, suspension or withdrawal of certification
are collected and filed by pertinent RINA office in contact with the client, that will provide written receipt
confirmation to the appellant.
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All documentation related to the appeal will be submitted to RINA Compliance Unit Director, involving the interested
Scheme Manager as applicable and, if necessary, the appellant.

For CDM activities under UNFCCC accreditation appeals against decisions taken by RINA Certification concerning
the request made by a client for a formal review of a decision taken by RINA in respect of its validation and/or
verification/certification activities are managed by the CDM Scheme Manager.

In addition, the eventual need to raise an internal non-conformity is considered by the Director of RINA Compliance
Unit.

In such case, the pertinent RINA Compliance Unit personnel is notified in order for an internal non-conformity to be
raised, which would be managed in accordance with the relevant RINA instruction.

Any appeal that could not be resolved is submitted to the CSI, together with a report drafted by RINA Compliance
Unit Director.

The CSI, after the relevant investigations, eventually involving the appellant, provides an opinion on the matter
within 60 days, which is notified by CECPL personnel to the involved RINA office(s) responsible(s) and to the
appellant.

For CDM activities under the UNFCCC accreditation, in case a negative opinion is given on the appeal, the
appellant is also informed that, if it is not satisfied, it has the option of making a complaint to the Board.

CECPL unit maintains records relevant to appeals for at least 3 years, unless otherwise required in the
accreditation/recognition/notification agreements or rules.

7. DISPUTES

Modalities for the management of any dispute that may arise from parties with reference to interpretation and
execution of an existing contract are detailed in the document “General Contract Conditions Governing System,
Product and Personnel Certification”, available on RINA web site.

For CDM activities under UNFCCC accreditation, the disputes are managed according the procedures for claims
management described in the previous chapters.

The procedure for handling disputes is made available to clients upon request of if a dispute occurs.

8. ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION

Analysis of claims, appeals and compliments registered is made annually, together with the results of the current
customer satisfaction survey, as input to the process of RINA Quality Management System planning and review.
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PRIVACY NOTICE

Pursuant to art 13 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (hereinafter, the “GDPR”) and in relation to data provided by the
Client or obtained by the Controller during the contractual relationship for the proposed services, the Client is
hereby informed that its data will be processed by the following means and for the following purposes:

1. DATA CONTROLLER

RINA S.p.A., whose registered office is in Genoa (Italy), via Corsica 12, Tax code and VAT n° 03794120109, as well
as the Company(ies) in the RINA Group are Joint Controllers according to art.26 GDPR. The Controller can be
contacted via the contact details shown on the www.rina.org website, or via the e-mail address for the Data Protection
Officer [email protected].

2. PURPOSE OF PROCESSING
The Controller processes the personal data (hereinafter, “personal data” or also “data”) provided by the Client:
a. Without having to obtain your explicit consent, for the following purposes:
- pre-contractual activities aimed at the proposal of offers and the establishment of the contractual
relationship for the provision of the Controller's services (such as for example in the case of contact
details collected directly from the interested data subject or otherwise publicly available);
- to fulfil contractual, administrative and fiscal obligations arising from relationships in force (like fiscal
data for the issuance of the invoice and relevant payment even if electronic, or contact details necessary
for the registration and access to restricted areas on online platforms or mobile applications);
- fulfil the obligations established by the specific contractual terms of the requested service and/or by
any binding accreditation and/or certification requirements (such as the collection of audit evidence or
other supporting documentation, also containing special categories of personal data defined at art. 9
GDPR such as health certificates, if required by law or by reference standard and therefore mandatory to
obtain the service itself, provided both through traditional and digital methodologies, or furnished by
remote tools);
- to fulfil the obligations imposed by law or by an order of the competent Authority;
- to exercise the Controller’s rights, such as the right of defence in a lawsuit.

b. Only with your prior consent, for the following promotional purposes:
- to send you e-mails, post, sms and/or telephone calls, newsletters, commercial communications,
and/or advertising materials on products or services offered by the Controller, and to measure the level of
satisfaction with the quality of such services.
- to use your images, photos and videos, taken on the occasion of the provision of the service, to
document the success of the initiative, with the possibility of publication on the website www.rina.org, on
the Company's official social media channels, or others external communication channels selected from
time to time.

3. PROCESSING METHOD

The Controller will process personal data in accordance with the principles of lawfulness, fairness and transparency.

RINA S.p.A. | Via Corsica, 12 - 16128 Genova | P. +39 010 53851 | [email protected] | www.rina.org

C.F. / P. IVA / R.I. Genova N. 03794120109 | Cap. Soc. € 50.985.823,50 i.v.

 Security level: RINA/CL/SENSITIVE

Your personal data are processed by means of the following operations: collection, recording, organisation,
structuring, storage, consultation, adaptation or alteration, use, dissemination, disclosure by transmission, retrieval,
alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction of the data. Your personal details are subjected to both
hard-copy and electronic processing.

The Controller will process the personal data for the time necessary to carry out the purposes indicated above and, in
any case, for not more than 30 years from termination of contractual relations and not more than 2 years from
collecting data for marketing purposes.

Once 10 years have passed since the contractual relations have ceased, access to the data will be limited to heads of
departments.

Should the Controller have a documented need to store the data for a period longer than 30 years (e.g. if erasure
could compromise its legitimate right to defence or in general, to safeguard its company assets), such further storage
shall take place, limiting access to said data to the head of the legal department only, in order to guarantee the
legitimate exercising of the right of defence of the Controller.

4. RECIPIENTS OF THE DATA

Your data may be made accessible for the purposes indicated in art 2.a and 2.b to the following recipients:
- affiliate companies or subsidiaries of RINA Group, in Italy and abroad, to the extent to which this is
necessary for processing, in conformity to the binding corporate rules adopted by RINA Group;
- companies or other third entities (credit institutions, professional firms, consultants, insurance
companies for providing insurance services, auditing companies, supervisory institutions, etc.) who carry
out activities on an outsourcing basis, on the Controller’s behalf;
- public entities, for fulfilling legal obligations.
Without requiring your explicit consent, the Controller may communicate your data for the purposes indicated in art
2.a to supervisory bodies, judicial authorities, insurance companies for providing insurance services, as well as to
entities to which communication is mandatory in terms of the law, for carrying out said purposes.

5. TRANSFERS OF DATA
Personal data are stored on servers located within the European Union. In any case, it is understood that, should this
be necessary, the Controller will have the right to move the servers even outside the EU. In such a case, the
Controller hereby guarantees that transfers of data outside the EU will be done in accordance with the applicable
laws, also by means of including standard contractual clauses provided for by the European Commission, and
adopting binding corporate rules for intra-group transfers.

6. LEGAL BASIS OF THE PROCESSING

The provision of data and related processing for the purposes indicated in art. 2.a is necessary in order to guarantee
the Controller’s services you have requested, and for implementing the contract and any pre-contractual obligations.
The legal basis of the aforementioned processing can be found in art. 6, par. 1, b) GDPR. Any refusal will make it
impossible for the Controller to provide the services covered by the contract.

Providing data for the purposes indicated in art. 2.b, on the other hand, is not mandatory. You may, therefore, decide

RINA S.p.A. | Via Corsica, 12 - 16128 Genova | P. +39 010 53851 | [email protected] | www.rina.org

C.F. / P. IVA / R.I. Genova N. 03794120109 | Cap. Soc. € 50.985.823,50 i.v.

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not to provide any data or subsequently refuse processing of data already provided . The legal basis of the
aforementioned treatment can be found in art. 6, par. 1, a) GDPR, the only consequence of such refusal will be that
receiving newsletters, commercial communications, and advertising materials related to the services offered by the
Controller will not be possible. However, you will continue to have the right to the services indicated in art. 2.a.

7. RIGHTS OF THE DATA SUBJECT

As the data subject, you have the right to:

i. obtain confirmation of whether or not personal details regarding you are processed or not, as well as to obtain a
copy of said data;

ii. obtain an indication of: a) the source of the personal data; b) the purposes and means of processing; c) the logic
involved in the case of processing done with the help of electronic instruments; d) the identity and the contact
details of the controller, controller’s representatives, processors and data protection officer; e) the recipients
or categories of recipients to which the personal data can be communicated, or who can come to know the
same as the designated representative within the territory of the State, processors, or employees who carry out
processing;
iii. obtain: a) updating, rectification, or completion of the data; b) erasure, transformation into an anonymous form
or blocking of data processed in violation of laws; c) certification that the operations referred to in letters a)
and b) have been made known, also in relation to their content, to those to whom the data have been
communicated or disclosed by transmission, unless this is impossible or involves a disproportionate effort; d)
a structured format, from the Controller, commonly used and provided in an intelligible and easily accessible
form with the personal data related to you, and, where technically feasible, to obtain transmission of said data
directly from one controller to another;
iv. object to: a) processing of your personal data, even if pertinent to the purpose for which they were collected. b)
processing of your personal data for the purposes of sending advertising or direct sales materials, or for
carrying out market research or commercial communication, using automated telephone calling systems
without an operator, by e-mail and or by means of traditional telephone and/or hard copy postal marketing
methods. Such right of object may also be exercised only in part, thereby allowing the data subjects to choose
whether to receive only communications using traditional means or only automated communications, or
neither of the two types of communication.
v. Therefore, in your capacity as Data Subject, you have the rights pursuant to Arts. 15 – 21 of GDPR, as well as
the right to lodge a complaint with the competent Authority pursuant to art 77 of GDPR.

8. PROCEDURE FOR EXERCISING RIGHTS AND COMMUNICATIONS

The Controller has appointed a Data Protection Officer, who can be contacted for all matters related to processing of
your personal data and the exercising of related rights.

Therefore, you may contact the Data Protection Officer at any time, using the following procedure:
- by sending a registered letter with notification of receipt to RINA S.p.A., via Corsica 12, 16128
Genova, for the attention of the Data Protection Officer, or by
- by sending an e-mail message to [email protected].

We wish to state that you have the right to withdraw the consent given at any time by writing to [email protected].

RINA S.p.A. | Via Corsica, 12 - 16128 Genova | P. +39 010 53851 | [email protected] | www.rina.org

C.F. / P. IVA / R.I. Genova N. 03794120109 | Cap. Soc. € 50.985.823,50 i.v.

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I declare that I have examined the notice and accept its contents.

____________________________________ ___________________

(Signature of the Data Subject) (Place & Date)

For the purpose of receiving e-mails, post, sms and/or telephone calls, newsletters, commercial communications,
and/or advertising materials on products or services the Controller offers, and to measure the degree of satisfaction
with the quality of such services (non mandatory consent).

I give my consent  I do not give my consent 

_________________________________ ____________________

(Signature of the Data Subject) (Place & Date)

For the purpose of using your images, photos and videos, taken on the occasion of the provision of the service, to
document the success of the initiative, with the possibility of publication on the website www.rina.org, on the
Company's official social media channels, or others external communication channels selected from time to time.

I give my consent  I do not give my consent 

_________________________________ ____________________

(Signature of the Data Subject) (Place & Date)

RINA S.p.A. | Via Corsica, 12 - 16128 Genova | P. +39 010 53851 | [email protected] | www.rina.org

C.F. / P. IVA / R.I. Genova N. 03794120109 | Cap. Soc. € 50.985.823,50 i.v.