Maintenance and Manufacturing Staff Instructions (MSI) No. 41

1. Purpose

• 1.1 The purpose of this instruction is to provide guidance to personnel involved in the auditing of manufacturer certificate holders, concerning the manufacturer certificate holder's control of suppliers.

  Note:
  The term supplier used in this document is the appellation used in CAR and Standard 561, it refers to any person or organization to which the manufacturer certificate holder contracts work or services.

  The term Quality Assurance Program has been replaced by Quality Audit System to reflect the terminology approved in respect of CAR and Standard 561 that are in the process of being promulgated.

2. General Information

• 2.1 A Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) approved manufacturer is responsible for each article used in its product, and therefore shall ensure that all products, components or services obtained from suppliers conform to approved design data.

• 2.2 Where the supplier holds an applicable manufacturer certificate, or an equivalent document issued by an authority with which Transport Canada has a technical arrangement, the supplier's release certification may be accepted as meeting the requirements in 2.1, but the contracting certificate holder remains responsible for ensuring the conformity of the end product.

• 2.3 Where the supplier does not hold an applicable manufacturer certificate, unless the condition and conformity of the supplier produced items can be fully verified by inspection or test, the manufacturer certificate holder's quality audit system must be extended to cover the supplier's facilities. This will require the manufacturer certificate holder to both evaluate the supplier's capability prior to award of the contract, and conduct surveillance throughout the duration of the contract.

• 2.4 Suppliers should be advised that their facilities, quality audit system, personnel and articles supplied are subject to evaluation and inspection by TCCA as well as by the manufacturer certificate holder, since in effect, the supplier's facilities are an extension of the manufacturer certificate holder's facilities.

• 2.5 If articles are purchased from foreign suppliers, care should be taken to ensure that either:

  1. the supplier's capability is evaluated by the manufacturer certificate holder, and that surveillance and inspection is carried out as necessary throughout the duration of the contract; or
  2. there is an arrangement between TCCA and the foreign civil aviation authority for the acceptance of certifications made under the foreign airworthiness system.

• 2.6 TCCA does not "approve" suppliers, but conducts oversight activities of the supplier control system at both the manufacturer certificate holder and supplier's facilities.

• 2.7 The checklists for manufacturing are found in the Maintenance and Manufacturing Inspection and Audit (Checklists) Manual - TP 13751E, Part 5, section 3.8.24 "Control of Suppliers" Parts I and II.

  Note: Copies of the Control Of Suppliers - Parts I & II checklists may be downloaded from the following Transport Canada Web sites:

  Internet: https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/aircraft-airworthiness/aircraft-maintenance-manufacturing/regulatory-requirements-references
  Intranet: http://tcinfo/civilaviation/maintenance/regsdocs/download.htm (for internal use only)

3. Procedures

• 3.1 TCCA's audit of the manufacturer certificate holder's quality audit system with respect to control of suppliers, is to be carried out using the checklist: Control Of Suppliers - Part I.

• 3.2 Based on Control Of Suppliers - Part I findings and the quality audit system's own audits of its suppliers, TCCA personnel will determine which suppliers will be subject to further review. The review is conducted to verify the manufacturer certificate holder's control of the supplier and the effectiveness of its quality audit system.

• 3.3 TCCA personnel are to choose the applicable supplier(s) based on a representative sample population with consideration to:

  1. significance of the supplier (ex: major systems / sub-systems; major inspection authority);
  2. location of supplier (ex: countries not having a technical arrangement with Transport Canada);
  3. manufacturer certificate holder's overall assessment of the supplier;
  4. the quantity and significance of the non-conformances generated;
  5. results of supplier corrective action plan (ex: no response, late response or insignificant response);
  6. it has been determined that the manufacturer certificate holder has failed to control its supplier; and
  7. supplier not audited by the manufacturer certificate holder.

• 3.4 The review shall be conducted at the supplier's facilities and carried out using the checklist: Control Of Suppliers - Part II.

• 3.5 The manufacturer certificate holder shall make arrangements for TCCA audit team member(s) access to supplier's facilities.

• 3.6 If problems are found with any supplier, TCCA personnel may be required to carry out either a random or ongoing surveillance of the supplier, until such time as the supplier conforms to the manufacturer certificate holder's type design and quality audit system requirements.

• 3.7 This MSI will be cancelled once CAR Subpart 61 - Manufacture of Aeronautical Products and Standard 561 - Standards for Approved Manufacturers are published.

4. Effective Date

• 4.1 This instruction comes into effect immediately.

5. Contact

• 5.1 The responsible officer indicated below may be contacted for information regarding this MSI:

  Chief, Standards and Procedures (AARPE), 
  Aircraft Maintenance & Manufacturing 
  Phone: (613) 952-4386 
  Facsimile: (613) 952-3298

  D.B. Sherritt
  Director,
  Maintenance and Manufacturing