Putting the "Plus" into the EGQS

We just held our annual EGQS review and we’ve made some big changes, but don’t panic!  They streamline the programme and make it more inclusive for our increasingly diverse membership.  

When we first incorporated GDPR requirements into the Seal, it was a big and scary change in the required compliance to achieve certification.  Now that we know more about how GDPR is being implemented across Europe, we are scaling back.  So certified members will be glad to hear that Gordon Kerr, our SC for legal and Martina Scharwey, our SC for Quality, have worked together to simplify the requirements.

But by far the most exciting change has been creating a new version of the Standard that we’re calling EGQS+.

We have broadened the Standard so that EGQS+ is applicable to;

• Destination Service Providers (DSPs)
• Relocation Management Companies (RMCs)
• Relocation Related Service Providers (RRSPs)

And this applies regardless of the size or the location of the member.  

Martina Scharwey told us, “We have been asked for sometime to make the EGQS process fit more of our members not purely engaged in DSP work. RRSPs are companies that provide relocation related services to DSPs and/or RMCs and their customers, for example immigration, legal and/or tax advice, movers, training, property management, furniture rental/leasing, serviced apartments, pet movers, financial and/or insurance services.

The EuRA Global Quality Seal Plus standard specifies requirements for a quality management system when an RMC, DSP or RRSP:

• Needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and
• Aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.”

As it was before, the EGQS+ is the intellectual property of EuRA and not of our audit partners.

This means we can widen the Seal certification process out to our supplier members who have asking for it for sometime. 

As you are probably aware, we have parted company with our audit partner of 9 years SGS.  

Tad, Martina and I had a very productive meeting with a new global audit partner in October and we are really looking forward to bringing them online later this year.  

In the meantime, where DQS are not able to offer an on site audit to a legacy SGS member, they have developed a remote audit process as an interim measure.  If you have any questions about your audit cycle or are concerned that your certification may pass in the time between your certification cycle and us bringing our new partner online, please contact us as we can work this out for you.

We have a new MIM training module online in the EuRa Academy which is of course, free to all members so if there is anything you have ever wanted to know about what the Seal is about, how you go about implementing it, and how to build your Quality Manual, go to the EuRA Academy, create your login and open the module!

For any questions about getting started contact Maree Turner.