INN / SICEP Compliance for Inspection Service Providers
NDT and inspection contractors serving Chilean copper, lithium and gold mines, concentrator plants, smelters, ports and the pulp, power and refining sectors. Personnel are qualified under employer-based certification, so a contracted Level III can sign the written practice and administer examinations for the firm.
It binds any firm bidding into Codelco, BHP, Antofagasta Minerals and comparable operators, any firm inspecting boilers, autoclaves and steam equipment, and any firm claiming accredited inspection status inside Chile. Chile does not licence NDT companies. Access is controlled in two separate places instead. Accreditation: INN runs the Sistema Nacional de Acreditación and accredits inspection bodies against NCh-ISO 17020:2012 under its accreditation regulation INN-R401. Accreditation is voluntary in itself but becomes obligatory wherever a technical regulation incorporates it; applications go through INN's SDAC portal on forms F407-21-01 and FD-D06-04, and accreditations are granted for five years, renewable, with surveillance evaluations during the term. Commercial access: the mining majors screen contractors through SICEP, the Sistema de Calificación de Empresas Proveedoras, which rates financial capacity, operational and technical capability, legal and labour compliance and risk prevention. A firm can be technically excellent and still not be biddable without SICEP standing.
Source: INN, Organismos de Inspección accreditation page and accreditation FAQ (accessed August 2026), giving NCh-ISO 17020-2012 as the applicable standard, the SDAC application route at sdac.inn.cl, forms F407-21-01v02 and FD-D06-04v01, guidance DA-D06, criteria document DA-D22 v07, fee regulation INN-R410 v08, accreditation regulation INN-R401, the five-year renewable accreditation term with surveillance during the term, IAAC MLA founding membership and founding membership of Global ACI, successor to the merged ILAC and IAF; INN catalogue record for NCh-ISO9712:2018, "Ensayos no destructivos - Calificación y certificación del personal que realiza ensayos no destructivos", published 30 August 2018, shown as No Vigente; INN list of approved standards showing NCh3918:2026 and NCh3919:2026 on acoustic emission; Chile Decreto Supremo N° 132 (Ministerio de Minería), Reglamento de Seguridad Minera, published 7 February 2004, Articles 185, 188, 191 and 378, text read directly; Chile Decreto Supremo N° 10 (Ministerio de Salud, Subsecretaría de Salud Pública), Reglamento de calderas, autoclaves y equipos que utilizan vapor de agua, published 19 October 2013, superseding DS N° 48; INN accreditation certificate OI232 for NDT held by an accredited inspection body; SICEP public pages and Asociación de Industriales de Antofagasta material (accessed August 2026).
| Item | What applies | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Authority | Instituto Nacional de Normalización (INN), which is both the national standards body and the national accreditation body; Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (SERNAGEOMIN) for mine safety; the SEREMI de Salud for boilers, autoclaves and steam equipment; SICEP, administered by the Asociación de Industriales de Antofagasta, as the mining supplier register | The body that issues, audits and can withdraw |
| Applies to | NDT and inspection contractors serving Chilean copper, lithium and gold mines, concentrator plants, smelters, ports and the pulp, power and refining sectors. | Whether this binds your firm at all |
| Personnel certification | Employer-based — the firm certifies its own, under a qualified Level III | Decides whether an outsourced Level III can sign for you |
| Renewal | INN accreditation is granted for five years and may be renewed for further five-year cycles, with surveillance evaluations during the term to verify continued conformity; INN does not publish a fixed surveillance month on its public pages, so confirm the schedule in INN-R401 rather than assuming one. SICEP standing is a periodically updated diagnosis rather than a fixed-term certificate and lapses if the file is not maintained. Boiler and autoclave inspection under the Ministry of Health regulation runs on a frequency tied to equipment category; establish the category before quoting an interval to a client. | Diarise from the certificate date, not from memory |
| Methods in scope | UT, PAUT, TOFD, RT, MT, PT | Each method needs its own procedure and qualified personnel |
| Industries | Copper, gold and lithium mining, Concentrator plant and smelters, Ports and marine terminals, Pulp and paper, Power generation | Where this regime shows up in contracts |
Who does INN / SICEP apply to?
NDT and inspection contractors serving Chilean copper, lithium and gold mines, concentrator plants, smelters, ports and the pulp, power and refining sectors. It binds any firm bidding into Codelco, BHP, Antofagasta Minerals and comparable operators, any firm inspecting boilers, autoclaves and steam equipment, and any firm claiming accredited inspection status inside Chile.
Can an outsourced Level III sign for INN / SICEP compliance?
Yes. INN / SICEP accepts employer-based certification, which places the obligation on the employer and allows a contracted Level III to write and sign the written practice, approve procedures and administer examinations. The Level III must be qualified in each method they sign for, and the employer still owns the records.
What documents does a INN / SICEP audit ask for?
Práctica Escrita to ASNT SNT-TC-1A, signed and dated by the Level III, naming every method, level and technique and the education, training, experience and examination requirements for each, Certificados de calificación y certificación del personal by method and level, with general, specific and practical examination papers and grading records, Registros de agudeza visual (Jaeger N.º 1 or equivalent) and colour differentiation, dated within the last twelve months, Procedimientos de END approved by the Level III and traceable to ASME BPVC Section V, AWS D1.1, API or the client's own specification, Certificados de calibración de equipos plus verification records for reference blocks, transducers and gauges. Auditors open records before they open manuals, because a manual describes intent while records show practice. The most common failure is a documented system that does not match what the technicians actually do.
How often is INN / SICEP renewed?
INN accreditation is granted for five years and may be renewed for further five-year cycles, with surveillance evaluations during the term to verify continued conformity; INN does not publish a fixed surveillance month on its public pages, so confirm the schedule in INN-R401 rather than assuming one. SICEP standing is a periodically updated diagnosis rather than a fixed-term certificate and lapses if the file is not maintained. Boiler and autoclave inspection under the Ministry of Health regulation runs on a frequency tied to equipment category; establish the category before quoting an interval to a client. Firms that diarise renewal from the certificate date rather than from the last audit avoid the lapse that forces a full reapplication.
What are the most common INN / SICEP findings?
The written practice is a generic template that was never tailored to the methods and techniques the company actually sells, and the Level III who signed it is no longer engaged, Level II technicians certified in UT are performing phased array with no separate technique qualification and no documented examination, Vision records missing for technicians on site, or dated more than twelve months before the inspection, Marketing claims "acreditado por el INN" when the INN scope covers only some methods or only one address; INN accreditation is granted against a specific annexed scope and site. These recur because they are records problems rather than capability problems — the work is being done correctly and the evidence is not being kept.
Which NDT methods does INN / SICEP cover?
UT, PAUT, TOFD, RT, MT, PT, VT, ET. Each method in scope needs its own approved procedure and personnel qualified in that specific method; a Level III qualified in ultrasonics cannot sign for radiography.
Personnel certification under INN / SICEP
Employer-based certification is accepted, and in practice is the norm. Chile has adopted ISO 9712 as NCh-ISO 9712, but the 2018 edition is shown as no longer current in INN's own catalogue, and INN's register of accredited personnel certification bodies does not list a Chilean body certifying NDT personnel to it, so there is no verified domestic route to an ISO 9712 certificate. Chilean technicians therefore hold employer certification written against ASNT SNT-TC-1A, or ISO 9712 certificates issued by foreign bodies. An outsourced ASNT Level III can write and sign the employer's written practice, approve procedures and certify Level I and II staff, which is how most Chilean NDT firms operate.
The audit sequence
- Submit the application and proposed scope through INN's SDAC portal using forms F407-21-01 and FD-D06-04, and pay the fees set out in INN-R410
- INN reviews the management documentation against NCh-ISO 17020:2012 and the inspection body criteria document DA-D22
- On-site evaluation at the declared premises plus witnessing of live inspections for each activity and method in the requested scope
- Correct non-conformities within the period INN sets and submit supporting evidence
- INN decision and grant of accreditation for a five-year period, published with the approved scope
- Surveillance evaluations during the term, and application for reaccreditation before the five years expire
Documents an auditor asks for
- Práctica Escrita to ASNT SNT-TC-1A, signed and dated by the Level III, naming every method, level and technique and the education, training, experience and examination requirements for each
- Certificados de calificación y certificación del personal by method and level, with general, specific and practical examination papers and grading records
- Registros de agudeza visual (Jaeger N.º 1 or equivalent) and colour differentiation, dated within the last twelve months
- Procedimientos de END approved by the Level III and traceable to ASME BPVC Section V, AWS D1.1, API or the client's own specification
- Certificados de calibración de equipos plus verification records for reference blocks, transducers and gauges
- Manual de gestión conforming to NCh-ISO 17020:2012, with the impartiality analysis and the type A, B or C declaration, where INN accreditation is sought
- Formulario F407-21-01 (solicitud de evaluación) and the scope form FD-D06-04, submitted through SDAC, with fees per INN-R410
- SICEP file: financial statements, technical and equipment inventory, legal and labour compliance certificates and the risk-prevention programme
- Autorización sanitaria and radiation-protection authorisation from the SEREMI de Salud for industrial radiography sources and operators
Findings firms get against INN / SICEP
- The written practice is a generic template that was never tailored to the methods and techniques the company actually sells, and the Level III who signed it is no longer engaged
- Level II technicians certified in UT are performing phased array with no separate technique qualification and no documented examination
- Vision records missing for technicians on site, or dated more than twelve months before the inspection
- Marketing claims "acreditado por el INN" when the INN scope covers only some methods or only one address; INN accreditation is granted against a specific annexed scope and site
- Wire-rope inspection reports for hoisting installations do not record the parameters DS 132 Article 188 names, namely flat wear, number of broken wires, useful diameter and oxidation, so they do not establish the service limit
- Extraction-rope determinations carried out at intervals longer than six months, or balance-rope determinations longer than twelve months, contrary to DS 132 Article 188
- SICEP file allowed to lapse or left at a lower category, so the firm is filtered out at prequalification irrespective of its technical scope
- No traceable link between the acceptance criteria quoted on the report and the code edition the client's specification actually calls up
Related: the INN / SICEP overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.