Impartiality
Who keeps us impartial.
Bonded Lot is paid by the sellers whose lots it certifies. The Impartiality Committee is a standing group of outside members who watch for anything that could bend our work toward them, and who can say so in public if we don't listen.
What the committee does
It is Bonded Lot's mechanism for safeguarding impartiality, the structure ISO/IEC 17065 clause 5.2 asks a certification body to have. At every meeting it:
- reviews our written list of risks to impartiality and how each is controlled, and can add to it;
- advises on the program's rules, and on any change to them before the change is published;
- checks that no fee depends on a result and that every seller pays the same published rates;
- reviews a yearly summary of complaints and appeals, with no names in it;
- takes part in Bonded Lot's yearly management review.
What it doesn't do
The committee advises; it decides nothing. It makes no certification decision, decides no complaint or appeal, takes no enforcement action and chooses no laboratory. Appeals go to a separate Appeals Decider who is not on the committee.
The members
Four seats, each bringing a different view, so no single interest holds a majority.
We are accepting applications for all four seats. Each member is listed here when appointed, with a short bio and anything they have declared.
Clinician. Clinical judgement on how laboratory results are read, and where the evidence behind them is thin.
Accepting applications.
Analytical chemist. Whether the testing methods and the published results mean what they say.
Accepting applications.
Consumer representative. Speaks for researchers: the people who rely on the published record to decide what to buy and from whom.
Accepting applications.
Community member with no seller interest. An outside view with no stake in this market: neither a researcher nor a seller, checking that the program treats everyone it touches fairly.
Accepting applications.
The rules every member meets
- No ownership in Bonded Lot, The Bio Logic Foundation, any seller or manufacturer in this market, or any of our panel laboratories.
- No current paid relationship with any seller or manufacturer in this market, or with any of our panel laboratories. Any such relationship in the past two years is declared and published here.
- Not a member of The Bio Logic Foundation's advisory board, and not Bonded Lot's lawyer, technical adviser or Appeals Decider.
- Not related to anyone who works for Bonded Lot or The Bio Logic Foundation.
- Two-year terms. No member is removed for disagreeing with us. If a member is removed for breaking these rules, the reason is published here.
How members are paid
$1,000 for each meeting a member attends, and $1,200 for the chair. The fee covers preparing for the meeting and the meeting itself.
It is paid by The Bio Logic Foundation, not from the fees sellers pay Bonded Lot, and it never varies with any certification, complaint, appeal or business result. Members hold no equity and receive nothing else.
If we don't take its advice
Bonded Lot answers the committee's formal advice in writing within 30 days, saying what it will do and why.
If the committee isn't satisfied, it can publish its own statement on this page. We post it within five business days, unedited.
Meetings
The committee meets at least twice a year. Bonded Lot attends as secretary, without a vote, and leaves for anything about its own conduct. Within 30 days of each meeting, this page shows the date, a summary of the committee's advice and Bonded Lot's response.
No meetings yet.
Interested in a seat?
If you work in one of these fields, hold no stake in this market and would like to be considered, write to us with a link to your work. contact@bondedlot.com