Manufacturer Qualifying Inspections
Instructions for report applicants, and for inspection agencies performing qualifying inspections of product manufacturers seeking an ICC-ES evaluation report
Prior to publication of a new ICC-ES evaluation report, ICC-ES must have objective evidence that a qualifying inspection of the facilities manufacturing products to be recognized in the evaluation report has been successfully completed. The qualifying inspection is intended to verify that the manufactured products are consistent with the product(s) described in the documentation provided to ICC-ES, and that the manufacturer has documented and effectively implemented a quality system that meets all requirements of the ICC-ES Acceptance Criteria for Quality Documentation (AC10). Agencies must be accredited for inspections of the product in question, and must also have accreditation to AC304 (the ICC-ES Acceptance Criteria for Inspection Agencies).
To help interested parties prepare for qualifying inspections of ICC-ES applicants, we are providing below current copies of Appendices A and B of AC10, as well as the ICC-ES Qualifying Inspection Report (Form Q-21). Between them, these documents address each section of AC10. Appendices A and B are used by the report applicant to provide information to ICC-ES, while the Q-21 report is to be completed during the factory inspection. Copies of the Q-21 must be left with the manufacturer and copies forwarded to ICC-ES immediately upon completion of the inspection for each individual manufacturer.
For inspection agencies:
For all evaluation reports for which you have been asked to perform a qualifying inspection, you will be provided with the information provided to ICC-ES relevant to Appendices A and B of AC10. This information provided by the applicant, together with the Form Q-21, will establish the scope of the inspection.
We would like to remind you of the following key points regarding qualifying inspections of manufacturers seeking ICC-ES evaluation reports:
- The inspector should always review both the manufacturer's quality documentation and the effective implementation of the quality system.
- Inspectors should be aware of any special requirements in the relevant ICC-ES acceptance criteria that may need to be touched upon during the inspection.
- Inspectors should fill out Form Q-21 completely, and clearly specify any discrepancies between conditions at the manufacturing plant and ICC-ES requirements.
- Corrective Action Requests (CARs) must be well-documented and refer to the appropriate section of AC10. CARs should be resolved by the inspection agency whenever possible.
The completed inspection report will be used by ICC-ES to determine whether the manufacturer has a fully documented and effectively implemented quality system.
We hope that the information provided here, and the documents that can be downloaded from this page, will prove to be useful to your staff when they conduct inspections of manufacturers seeking evaluation reports. If you believe that the documents could be improved upon, we would welcome your suggestions.
If you or your staff have any questions, please call Michael Beaton, P.E., ICC-ES Senior Vice-President, at (562) 699-0543, extension 3289.
Click here 
to download Appendix A of AC10.
Click here to download Appendix B of AC10.
Right click here (for better viewing, save as a Word file) to download the Qualifying Inspection Report (Form Q-21).
