What happens if your STEK certificate is suspended or withdrawn?

A suspended or withdrawn STEK certificate means, in practice, that you may no longer offer or deliver STEK-related services — with all the consequences that has for ongoing maintenance contracts and your visibility towards customers. Below is the process as STEK itself sets it out in the STEK-Controlemethodiek, and what you need to do to get out of it.

Critical vs. non-critical non-conformities: the starting point

Every STEK audit (initial certification audit or periodic inspection) can produce non-conformities. STEK distinguishes between two categories here, with different consequences.

A non-critical non-conformity is, for example:

• Incidentally failing to keep required records
• Incidentally failing to maintain the quality system
• Incidentally failing to carry out calibrations within the set periods

A critical non-conformity is more serious — the reliability of the certificate is then directly called into question. Examples from the STEK-Controlemethodiek:

• 5 or more non-critical non-conformities during one audit
• Structurally failing to keep records or structurally failing to maintain the quality system
• Having work carried out by personnel without the legally required diplomas or personal certificates (think of a technician without a valid F-gas certificate)
• Insufficient technical equipment or structurally non-calibrated measuring equipment
• Improper use or misuse of the STEK certification mark or logo
• Fraud

A non-critical non-conformity that you don't resolve within the period set by the certification body (CI) — the STEK-Controlemethodiek states 6 months here — is automatically converted into a critical non-conformity for not taking corrective measures in time. That can only be lifted after the underlying non-critical non-conformities have also been resolved.

The process: from critical non-conformity to withdrawal

From a critical non-conformity, the clock starts running. According to the STEK-Controlemethodiek (version 1, July 2021), the process runs as follows — note: from 1 September 2026, the renewed STEK scheme, which integrates BRL 100 version 3.0, is declared equivalent to BRL 100 by the Minister of Klimaat en Groene Groei; check with your CI whether this sanction procedure remains unchanged under the renewed scheme:

• If you don't resolve the critical non-conformity within the period set by the CI of 3 months, a written warning follows with a response period of 2 weeks.
• If you don't respond adequately to that warning, a suspension of the STEK certificate follows, for a period of 1 month.
• If, after that month has passed, you still haven't responded adequately, withdrawal of the certificate follows.

Certification bodies (STEK works via affiliated CIs such as Kiwa and SGS) handle non-conformities according to their own sanction procedure, but always within these minimum frameworks of the assessment guideline. So if in doubt, ask your own CI for the exact procedure and current periods — they can be slightly stricter on some points.

Fraud is an exception to this entire process: if fraud is established, the certificate is withdrawn immediately, without a warning or suspension period.

What a suspension or withdrawal means in practice

As long as your certificate is suspended or withdrawn, you may not offer or deliver services under that STEK certificate. In practice that directly affects:

• Maintenance contracts in which STEK certification is included as a condition
• Tenders or clients that require STEK certification
• The use of the STEK certification mark or logo on your website, quotes and company vehicles

How you get out of a suspension

A suspension doesn't lift automatically. After you have taken the corrective measures, the certification body first carries out a reassessment to establish that you once again fully meet all the requirements. Only after that is the suspension lifted and may you use the STEK certification mark again.

Once the certificate has been withdrawn, that is no longer a suspension you can "lift" — you will have to go through an initial certification audit again to become STEK-certified once more. The concrete costs and lead time for this differ per certification body; ask your own CI directly about this.

Visibility towards customers and enforcement

STEK keeps a public search register (the "STEK-check") in which customers, clients and enforcement bodies can check whether a company and the technicians who work there hold the correct certification. Certification bodies are, moreover, obliged to report to STEK without delay which certificates they issue, suspend or withdraw. So assume that a suspension or withdrawal does not go unnoticed — not even among your own customers, who can consult this register.

How to prevent it getting that far

Most paths to suspension don't start with fraud, but with simple backlog: a record that doesn't get filed, a calibration you keep postponing, or a logbook that isn't in order. Make sure you:

• Pick up corrective measures immediately after every non-conformity and substantiate them with a root cause analysis — not only once the period is almost up
• Keep calibrations and F-gas logbooks up to date structurally (see also F-gas logbook: what needs to be in it? and Refrigerant balance — a practical guide to a balance that adds up)
• Only let technicians with a valid personal certificate work independently
• Respond to written warnings from your CI seriously and on time — a missed two-week response period is often the difference between a critical non-conformity and a suspension

For more on exactly what the STEK company certificate involves and delivers, read The STEK quality mark — what it is, what it gets you and how to keep it.

Sources

This article is based on the official STEK-Controlemethodiek (version 1, July 2021), published by Stichting Emissiepreventie Koudetechniek (STEK), and on the publicly available information about the STEK register on stek.nl. Exact periods and sanction procedures can differ per certification body and with any later version of the Controlemethodiek — for a specific case, always consult your own CI or the current version on stek.nl.