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  • Transformations and changes of company name

Transformations and changes of company name Impact on accreditation

Transformations and changes of the company name of accredited bodies can have a concrete im-pact on DAkkS accreditation. DAkkS provides information here on what you need to consider.

As is made clear by the various application forms for accreditation by DAkkS, details such as the legal form of the company or the commercial register number constitute important information for processing of the application. This is because the application and any accreditation already granted are considered specific to an entity, which means that all applications and the accreditation that is granted are assigned unambiguously and solely to that one legal entity. This is designed among other things to prevent trading in accreditations and the privileges underlying them.

Conversely, this also means that changes to the legal entity of a conformity assessment body (CAB) can also have an impact on the case of accreditation.

Two cases are distinguished

Change of name only

As a rule, a simple change of name has no direct impact on the accreditation, as the only change is to the name of a CAB.

  • Example: Laboratory ABC GmbH becomes Laboratory XYZ GmbH

Other attributes of the legal entity of the CAB remain unaffected. In these cases, submission of a change request stating the name of the new company is sufficient. The company will then promptly receive an updated certificate with the new name.

Change of legal entity

In the case of a change of legal entity, on the other hand, fundamental attributes also change. For example, a different legal form can be chosen.

  • Example: GmbH becomes AG

Or there are changes in ownership.

  • Example: An accredited laboratory is transferred to a different company.

In each case, the pending or planned changes must be carefully reviewed, because from the DAkkS standpoint, it is important to bear in mind that the identity of the entity must be preserved if the existing accreditation is not to be compromised.

This means that if the change results in a change in the identity of the legal entity of the CAB, a new initial accreditation may be required.

When does a change preserve identity and when does it not?

The following examples illustrate when a change can and cannot preserve identity:

Identity-preserved

  • The form of legal entity changes in accordance with the provisions of Sections 190 et seq. UmwG (German Transformation Act). As a rule, these changes preserve identity.
  • The so-called “accretion model”, in which a GbR can be converted into a GmbH. For this purpose, the GmbH is a shareholder of the GbR, and as a result takes over the company shares of the previ-ous other shareholders.
  • The shareholders of a company change without having any further impact on the company.
  • An company that is already accredited acquires another accredited company and merges with it. Important to know: an application for extension may be necessary in this case, as the scopes of the accreditation change and are not transferred automatically.

Identity not preserved

  • Full transfers of assets or so-called asset deals, where some or all assets are sold. The previous legal entity may still exist as an “empty shell”. As a rule, however, it can no longer fulfil the requirements for accreditation because the assets required for technical competence have been sold. For exam-ple, the key personnel have been transferred to a different legal entity.
  • Partial transfers of assets in which parts of the company are sold. This can be done for example by way of spin-off, hive-down, split-up or merger to form a new legal entity.

Consequences of changes that do not preserve identity

A change that does not preserve identity results in the identity of the accredited legal entity losing its specific relationship with the body that is already accredited. The previous specific relationship can then no longer be established. As a rule, this is manifested by a changed number in the com-mercial register, which no longer matches the number on the original application. Since accredita-tion cannot simply be transferred in these cases, an application for initial accreditation is necessary.

It should be noted that in the event of a change that does not preserve identity, the accreditation automatically loses its validity. As a result, all conformity assessments carried out are no longer cov-ered by the accreditation that was originally granted, and other associated privileges are then no longer applicable.

Transfer of assessment results in individual cases

For processing of the required initial application, it may be possible to reuse any previous assess-ment results in the case for the “new” CAB. The requirement here is that from a technical point of view, nothing fundamental has changed at the CAB. The case can be speeded up significantly and the accreditation can be granted more quickly. This applies for example if relevant personnel and resources have been transferred or have not otherwise been changed.

The technical decision as to whether such a transfer of previous assessment results is possible is made by DAkkS on a case-by-case basis. The details for this procedure must be agreed in good time in advance with the relevant case managers and the DAkkS Application Service.

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