Terms and Definitions

 

ACRONYMS
ACAppeals Coordinator
AFTAPActivFire® Technical Advisory Panel
ABN Australian Business Number
ACNAustralian Company Number
BCA Building Code of Australia
CSIROCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
CVS CSIRO Verification Services
CoCCertificate of Conformity
CoSR Confirmation of Service Request
EOExecutive Officer, ActivFire®
FPC Factory Production Control
ILAC MRAInternational Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation Mutual Recognition Arrangement
JASANZ Joint Accreditation Scheme – Australia and New Zealand
LBA Listing Body Approval
NATA National Association of Testing Authorities Australia
NCC National Construction Code
RBA Recognised Body Approval
RACE Recognised Agency for Conformity Evaluation
RCABRecognised Conformity Assessment Body
SMU Secondary Manufacturing Unit
TMUTertiary Manufacturing Unit
DEFINITIONS
ActivFire® Scheme: The conformity assessment scheme, owned by CSIRO and managed by CSIRO Verification Services, for the purposes of product certification of active fire protection products.
Accredited Testing Laboratory: As defined by Australia’s National Construction Code (NCC) as the following:

1. An organisation accredited by NATA to undertake the relevant tests.

2. An organisation outside Australia accredited to undertake the relevant tests by an authority recognised by NATA through a mutual recognition agreement.

3. An organisation recognised as being an Accredited Testing Laboratory under legislation at the time the test was undertaken.
Agent / Distributor: The Producer, or business entity authorised by the Producer, that is designated on the register as a point / source of supply and support for the Certified Product.
Agency for Conformity Assessment: An accredited testing laboratory that holds a current accreditation from a duly authorised accrediting body from an organisation accredited by an ILAC MRA signatory.
Applicant: The Producer, or business entity authorised by the Producer, initialising and / or facilitating a request and submission for the verification processes required to certify a product.
Attestation: Defined by AS/NZS ISO/IEC 17000:2020 as “issue of statement, based on decision, that fulfilment of specific requirements has been demonstrated.”
Business Entity: An entity represented by a person, business/company, body corporate or other legal entity responsible for the products and/or services they produce and/or supply.
Certification: Defined by AS/NZS ISO/IEC 17000:2020 as “third party attestation related to an object of conformity assessment, with the exception of accreditation.”
Certificate of Conformity (CoC): The document issued under the rules and procedures of the Conformity Assessment Scheme, indicating that a designated product is in conformity with specified requirements.
Certified Product: A product that has been assessed by an ActivFire® officer and found to comply with the Certification Requirements and Product Requirements.
Certification Body: Third-party conformity assessment body operating the certification scheme. The ActivFire® Scheme is the Certification Body.
Certification Requirement: The specified requirement(s), including Product Requirement(s), that is fulfilled by the Client as a condition of establishing or maintaining certification.
Certification Classification: The non-hierarchical groupings of products registered by the product certification program, according to the source or process from which they have been verified for conformity, and are defined as follows:
Listing Body Approval (LBA): Registration and listing of a product for which the Producer's attestation of conformity has been verified and validated by the ActivFire® Scheme as meeting relevant reference criteria based upon evidence of conformity, issued by a RACE.
Recognised Body Approval (RBA): Registration and listing of a product for which the Producer's attestation of conformity has been verified and validated by ActivFire® Scheme as meeting relevant reference criteria based upon recognition of evidence of conformity, issued by a RCAB.
Conformity Assessment: Defined by AS/NZS ISO/IEC 17000:2020 as “Demonstration that specified requirement are fulfilled.”
Conformity Assessment Body: Defined by AS/NZS ISO/IEC 17000:2020 as “A body that performs assessment activities, excluding accreditation.” This may include an accredited testing laboratory.
Conformity Assessment Scheme: Defined by AS/NZS ISO/IEC 17000:2020 as “Set of rules and procedures that describes the objects of conformity assessment, identifies the specified requirements and provides the methodology for performing conformity assessment.” In this case, ActivFire® is the applicable scheme.
Conformity Assessment System: Defined by AS/NZS ISO/IEC 17000:2020 as a “set of rules and procedures for the management of similar or related conformity assessment scheme.”
Evaluation of conformity: Confirmation by examination of evidence that a product, process, or services fulfils specified reference criteria.
Evidence of conformity: Statement of conformity, together with other relevant articles, related to the conformity assessment of a specific product by a conformity assessment body.
Factory Production Control (FPC): A set of internal procedures carried out by the Producer that are used to ensure that the manufactured products are to a consistent standard of quality in a safe and efficient environment.
Issue Date: The date the CoC is issued to the registrant upon completion of verification of the product’s evidence of conformity or revalidation.
Manufacturing Unit: A business entity providing the production/assembly process of a product. Manufacturing units are classed as Primary (manufacturer), Secondary (major components), and Tertiary (minor components).
Producer: The business entity responsible for the design management, manufacturing specifications and quality management/control associated with the conformity and production of the product.
Producer Management Representative: The Producer, or business entity authorised to act on behalf of the Producer, in relation to product conformance and associated technical and administrative matters.
Product Developer: The Producer, or business entity engaged by the Producer, for the purposes of developing the conceptual and/or aesthetic and/or functional requirements of a new product or modification to an existing product.
Product Requirement: The specified requirement(s) that relates directly to a product, specified in standards or in other normative documents identified by the Scheme.
Product Specifier: The business entity that engages with the Producer or product developer for the purposes of developing the product design and manufacturing specifications in accordance with conformance, functional and/or aesthetic requirements.
Primary Manufacturing Unit: The Producer, or a business entity contracted with the Producer, providing the total, substantive or final production/assembly process of the product.
Recognised Agency for Conformity Evaluation (RACE): An Agency for Conformity Assessment recognised by CVS as having the appropriate expertise and facilities for evaluating conformity and/or verification of conformity to determine that the specific product/system, as investigated, complies with nominated reference criteria.
Recognised Conformity Assessment Body (RCAB): Body which operates conformity assessment schemes of which one, more than one, or all the designated functional elements of its conformity assessment system are recognised by CVS.
Reference Criteria: A normative document, such as a national or international standard, technical specification or other document, which has been ratified as suitable for evaluation for conformity of a product to requirements relevant to its intended application.
Registrant: The business entity validated and registered under the conformity assessment scheme as the Producer, or Producer Management Representative of Certified Products. The Registrant is subject to the Rules Governing the ActivFire® Scheme as applicable to the Certified Products registered under its name. The Registrant is responsible for the payment of fees and charges associated with the maintenance of their product certifications, on-going conformity of the Certified Products with specified requirements and providing evidence of conformity by the process and in a form as specified and / or deemed necessary by the ActivFire® Scheme.
Relevant Articles: All specimens, documentation and media received for record and/or review which relate to the identification of a product and its verification of conformity; including reference samples, reports, correspondence, packaging, writing, get-up, labels, tags, materials and advertisements proposed to be used in connection with the use, sale, supply, distribution or promotion of the products.
Registration Date: The date the product is registered on the ActivFire® data management system.
Scheme:The third-party product certification program operating under the conformity assessment system of CVS and covering active fire detection and suppression equipment as used by the building and construction industries. ActivFire® is the applicable scheme.
Scheme Owner: The organisation responsible for developing and maintaining the certification scheme. CSIRO is the ActivFire ® Scheme Owner.
Secondary Manufacturing Unit: The manufacturing unit providing component significant to the production / assembly of a product.
Specified Requirements: Defined by AS/NZS ISO/IEC 17000:2020 as “need or expectation that is stated.”
Surveillance:  Defined by AS/NZS ISO/IEC 17000:2020 as “systematic iteration of conformity assessment activities as a basis for maintaining the validity of the statement of conformity.”
Tertiary Manufacturing Unit: The manufacturing unit providing components or processes supplementary to the production / assembly of a product.
Validation: Defined by AS/NZS ISO/IEC 17000:2020 as “confirmation of plausibility for a specific intended used or application through the provision of the objective evidence that specified requirements have been fulfilled.”
Verification: Defined by AS/NZS ISO/IEC 17000:2020 as “confirmation of truthfulness through the provision of objective evidence that specified requirements have been fulfilled.”
For more information on the vocabulary and general principles relating to conformity assessments, please refer to AS/NZS 17000:2000