Grievance Procedure

Grievance Procedure

In accordance with Article 15 of the Statutes of the Association, the CSC Executive Committee establishes the following grievance management process, including the establishment of the Grievance Management Committee, for the Concrete Sustainability Council.

Grievances shall be filed writing to: grievance@csc.eco

1. Objectives
2. Potential complainants
3. Areas of grievance
4. Informal resolution
5.Filing requirements
6.Grievance Management Committee
7.Conflict of interest
8.Lodgment and assessment of the admissibility of the grievance
9.Formal consideration of the grievance
10.Appeal to the GMC against a decision by the Executive Committee
11.Formal decision of the grievance
12.Appeal against a decision
13.Transparency
14.Confidentiality
15.Costs

1. Objectives

The CSC grievance management process aims at providing:
a clear focal point for grievances raised by CSC members and stakeholders formally involved in the Association (1);
a transparent and impartial process and mediation to address grievances, with respect for sensitive information;
a credible, efficient and solution-oriented arbitration.

2. Potential complainants

The grievance management process is open only to:

members of the Association;
the users of the Certification System, and
the stakeholders formally involved in the Association (1).

3. Areas of grievance

The grievance management process shall apply only to grievances between:
• The CSC and
• Members of the Association; or
• formally involved stakeholders; or
• Users of the Certification System.

For this grievance management process to apply, a grievance must be directly relevant to the processes explained in one or more of the following CSC documents:
• Statutes;
• By-Laws and Terms of References;
• Membership Conditions and Application and related policies;
• The CSC Manuals and their Revision Procedures;
• The local adaptation of the CSC Manual

Any grievance outside of the scope of the processes explained in the above documents, or not involving the parties listed above, shall not be considered by this grievance management process.

CSC members are expected to have their own grievance mechanisms to resolve grievances that do not fall in the areas of grievance addressed by the CSC grievance management process.

4. Informal resolution

CSC encourages its members and stakeholders to seek, prior to invoking the grievance management process, an amicable settlement to any grievance directly with the person, entity or organ of the Association whose action or decision is the subject of the grievance.

5. Filing requirements

As required by Article 15 of the Statutes, the submission of a grievance shall

• be submitted in writing at the following email address: here
• be lodged with the Secretariat of the Association; and
• document the nature of the grievance.
The written grievance should also include the relevant contact details for the sending of notifications and information concerning the grievance management process, as well as any relevant information on a prior attempt of informal resolution of the grievance.

6. Grievance Management Committee

Role: The Grievance Management Committee (GMC) serves as:

the organ managing the grievance process and preparing grievance related resolutions for the CSC Executive Committee (ExCo) decisions;

the reviewing and decision-making organ if the Executive Committee is one of the parties involved in a grievance process.
Composition: The GMC is composed of the CSC Chair, the CSC Technical Committee chair and a representative of 1 Regional System Operator (RSO) appointed by the Executive Committee (ExCo) for four years, from amongst a list of voluntary RSO ExCo members. The Chair of the Association shall call for voluntary members in a timely manner.

Decision Making: The GMC shall make decisions by consensus (absence of sustained opposition).

7. Conflict of interest

A member of the Grievance Management Committee and the Executive Committee shall not take part in the discussion and decision-making related to a grievance in which this member is directly involved.

In the case where one member of the Grievance Management Committee or the Executive Committee has a potential or actual conflict of interest in participating in the grievance management process, this member shall inform the ExCo via the Chair of the Association as soon as they become aware of this conflict of interest. If a conflict of interest relates to a member of the GMC, the ExCo shall nominate a temporary replacement for the respective grievance management process.

8. Lodgment and assessment of the admissibility of the grievance

a. Upon receipt of a grievance lodged in accordance with Article 15 of the Statutes, the Secretariat of the Association shall, within 15 days, notify the parties named in the grievance of its lodgment with the Association, and provide them and all GMC members with copies of the documents lodged by the complainant.

b. The GMC shall review the admissibility of the grievance within 30 days and provide a recommendation to the ExCo regarding the admissibility.

c. The ExCo shall conclude on the admissibility of the grievance during its following regular meeting. If the ExCo itself is a party of the grievance, the final decision of its admissibility is taken by the GMC.

d. The Secretariat of the Association will notify the parties to the grievance within 15 days after the decision of admissibility whether the grievance is formally considered or rejected.

e. If the grievance is considered non-admissible, then the process is taken no further.

9. Formal consideration of the grievance

a. If the grievance has been formally considered, the parties are given 60 days to lodge (additional) written submissions to support their view.

10. Formal decision of the grievance

a. The GMC shall provide a concluding recommendation regarding the grievance to the ExCo within 30 days after the expiry of the time to lodge (additional) written submissions. The recommendation may include an action plan with the aim to achieve a balance of interests.

b. The ExCo shall conclude the grievance latest during its following regular meeting. If the ExCo itself is a party of the grievance, the final decision regarding the grievance will be taken by the GMC.

c. The Secretariat of the Association will notify the parties of the decision within 15 days following the decision.

11. Appeal against a decision

If any party to the grievance is not satisfied with the decision, they may, within 30 days of receipt of the notice of the decision, appeal against the decision.

The process of appealing against a decision is set forth in analogy to section 8, 9 and 10 in this document.

The formal decision on an appeal is final, and the process is taken no further, i.e. no appealing against this decision is possible.

12. Notice Timelines

Timelines refer to the number of days after receipt of the document established in the previous step. Documents are taken to be received if emailed to the address either provided to the Association as the contact address for the member or party in question, in the written grievance, or in written response to the grievance: on the next business day following the day the documents were emailed.

13. Transparency

In order to ensure accountability and transparency, the outcomes of any grievance management process shall be reported to the Members of the Association within 30 days of the decision.

14. Confidentiality

The members of the Executive Committee and GMC involved in a grievance management process shall be required to keep confidential all information supplied by the parties in the grievance management process.

15. Costs

Each party shall bear its own costs of participating in a grievance management process. Direct costs incurred by the CSC for the management of a grievance shall be divided and assigned to the parties involved in the grievance and reimbursed to the CSC.

(1) Stakeholders formally involved in the Association are: non-CSC members which are members of one of the Committees of the CSC, including the Advisory Committee, or experts involved in the revision of the system.

Geneva, March 31st, 2021