Accreditation & Certification Decisions

1. The decision chain

1. The Monitor signs off each criterion as Verified, Requires Evidence, or Disputed at the full in-facility verification.
2. The Coordinator’s evidence file and any Improvement Plan history accompany the Monitor’s findings to the Tourism Board’s accreditation review.
3. The review considers the complete file — not the Monitor’s summary judgment alone — and issues one of four outcomes: Accredited (all Essentials and required Full Standard criteria verified), Accredited with Conditions (minor gaps, time-bound remediation required), Deferred (material gaps, re-assessment required before a decision), or Not Accredited (Essentials criteria not met).
4. A written decision, with reasons, is issued to the facility within 30 days of the full verification.

2. Validity, suspension and withdrawal

• Accreditation is valid for 3 years, conditional on the annual self-report held out in Training Requirements and How It Works.
• A confirmed Essentials-level breach discovered between full verification cycles triggers immediate review and can suspend accreditation before the next scheduled verification.
• Withdrawal follows the same written-decision, reasons-stated standard as an initial award, and is reflected in the public accredited-facilities listing once one exists.

3. Independence of the reviewers

Whoever reviews the file for the accreditation decision was not the Coordinator or Monitor who worked it directly, and excludes anyone with a declared conflict regarding the facility — the same firewall described in TOUR-POL-02.

4. The certificate

Every certificate states the facility’s name, the specific scope of accreditation (Essentials or Full Standard, any conditional modules assessed), the effective date, and the 3-year validity term.

5. Protecting the accreditation mark

A facility may display the ASF Tourism accreditation mark only for the scope and period actually awarded, and only while accreditation remains valid. Any reported misuse — display after suspension or withdrawal, or a claim of accreditation for services never assessed — is investigated and acted on under TOUR-POL-04. A facility must notify ASF Tourism of any significant change — ownership, major expansion, relocation, or a serious incident — outside its normal cycle.

6. Appealing a decision

Covered in full under TOUR-POL-05 — this policy governs how the decision is reached, that one governs how it is challenged.