Corrective Action Records for SAE (ex-OAE)
SAE (ex-OAE) names this requirement as "Internal audit, management review, non-conformity and corrective-action records covering the full scope claimed". The management representative owns it, and a contracted Level III can author and sign it.
The finding auditors record against this document is: Documents, contracts and certificates still cite "OAE", so the entity named does not match SAE's current register and the client's procurement system rejects it. The body named here is real but no longer carries that name. The Organismo de Acreditación Ecuatoriano (OAE), created under the Ley del Sistema Ecuatoriano de la Calidad, was renamed and now operates as the Servicio de Acreditación Ecuatoriano (SAE); older Ecuadorian legal text and legacy contracts still say OAE, which is a frequent source of confusion at tender stage. SAE accredits inspection bodies against NTE INEN-ISO/IEC 17020:2013, the Ecuadorian adoption. Applications run through SAE's SISAC and ACREDITA SAE platforms. Accreditation is granted for five years, maintained by two surveillance evaluations at eighteen-month intervals inside the cycle, with reaccreditation applied for before expiry. In the hydrocarbon sector operators additionally require ARCH qualification, so accreditation alone does not open the gate.
Source: SAE, "Cómo acreditarse: organismos de inspección" (accessed August 2026), giving the ISO/IEC 17020 basis, the SISAC application route, the three-part evaluation of documentary review, on-site verification and witnessing, the five-year accreditation period, two surveillance evaluations at eighteen-month intervals, reaccreditation before expiry, scope extension and withdrawal grounds; SAE news item on training in NTE INEN ISO/IEC 17020:2013 for accrediting inspection bodies, and SAE course for Andean Community technical experts on ISO/IEC 17020; SAE published scope document SAE-INS-17-002 and SAE-accredited inspection body scopes covering hydrocarbon-sector metallurgical and non-destructive inspection; Decreto Ejecutivo 1036 of 6 May 2020 creating ARCERNNR by merging the electricity, hydrocarbons and mining regulators, and Decreto Ejecutivo 256 of 8 May 2024 splitting it back into ARCH, ARCOM and ARCONEL under the Ministerio de Energía y Minas, with a 90-day implementation window, as reported by Primicias; SAE institutional pages confirming creation in 2007 under the Ley del Sistema Ecuatoriano de la Calidad and the OAE-to-SAE naming.
| Item | What applies | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Regime | Servicio de Acreditación Ecuatoriano (SAE), formerly the Organismo de Acreditación Ecuatoriano (OAE) | Enforced by Servicio de Acreditación Ecuatoriano (SAE) as the national accreditation body; Agencia de Regulación y Control de Hidrocarburos (ARCH), re-established by Decreto Ejecutivo 256 of 8 May 2024 under the Ministerio de Energía y Minas, for hydrocarbon-sector qualification of inspection companies |
| Document | Corrective Action Records | what the firm did about previous findings, which is the first thing a repeat auditor opens |
| Owner | the management representative | The signature an auditor traces back |
| Where it is checked | SAE decision and grant of accreditation for a five-year cycle; Two surveillance evaluations at eighteen-month intervals during the. | Usually against a sampled job, not in isolation |
| Common failure | Documents, contracts and certificates still cite "OAE", so the entity named does not match SAE's current register and the client's procurement system rejects it | The gap between the manual and the job file |
What must a corrective action records contain under SAE (ex-OAE)?
It has to satisfy SAE (ex-OAE) as Servicio de Acreditación Ecuatoriano (SAE) as the national accreditation body; Agencia de Regulación y Control de Hidrocarburos (ARCH), re-established by Decreto Ejecutivo 256 of 8 May 2024 under the Ministerio de Energía y Minas, for hydrocarbon-sector qualification of inspection companies enforces it: what the firm did about previous findings, which is the first thing a repeat auditor opens. The test is not completeness on paper but traceability — an auditor picks a finished job and works backwards to this document, so anything it claims must be demonstrable on that job.
Who signs the corrective action records for SAE (ex-OAE)?
The management representative. Because this regime accepts employer-based certification, that role can be filled by a contracted Level III rather than a staff appointment, provided they are qualified in the methods they sign for.
How does a SAE (ex-OAE) auditor test this document?
By sampling. They take a completed job, find the technicians and equipment used, and trace each back through this document to the evidence behind it. A document that reads well but cannot survive that trace is the most common finding across every regime, not just this one.
How long must SAE (ex-OAE) records be kept?
SAE accreditation runs for five years and is maintained by two surveillance evaluations at eighteen-month intervals within the cycle; reaccreditation must be applied for before the cycle expires. Scope extension is available at any point on demonstration of conformity, and accreditation can be withdrawn where non-compliance affects technical competence or the quality of results. ARCH qualification runs on its own cycle set by the agency and must be tracked as a separate diary item; firms routinely lose work by keeping one current and letting the other lapse. Retention is set by the regime and by the client contract above it, and the longer of the two governs. Firms that set one retention period for everything and document it fare better at audit than firms tracking different periods per record type and losing track.
Does a generic template satisfy SAE (ex-OAE)?
No. A downloaded template describes a generic firm, and the first question an auditor asks is whether the document describes THIS firm — its methods, its equipment, its people, its actual workflow. Templates are a starting structure; the content has to be the firm's own or the trace fails immediately.
What happens if this document is missing at a SAE (ex-OAE) audit?
It is a finding, and depending on the regime it can suspend the certificate rather than merely generate a corrective action. The related finding auditors record most often is: Documents, contracts and certificates still cite "OAE", so the entity named does not match SAE's current register and the client's procurement system rejects it
Where this sits in the SAE (ex-OAE) evidence pack
- Solicitud de acreditación filed through SISAC with all annexes, plus payment of the file-opening fee
- Management system documentation against NTE INEN-ISO/IEC 17020:2013, including the type A, B or C declaration and the impartiality analysis
- Alcance de acreditación drafted in SAE's format, naming each inspection activity and the normative documents it is performed and judged against
- Práctica escrita and personnel certification files by method and level, with authorisation records and ongoing competence monitoring evidence
- NDT procedures approved by the Level III and traceable to the codes the client cites, typically ASME, API and AWS
- Equipment inventory with calibration and verification records for each method in scope
- ARCH qualification file for hydrocarbon-sector work, kept current independently of the SAE cycle
- Authorisation from the national radiation control authority for industrial radiography sources, operators and source transport
- Internal audit, management review, non-conformity and corrective-action records covering the full scope claimed
Personnel certification context
Employer-based certification is accepted and is the norm. Ecuador has no verified accredited domestic body certifying NDT personnel to ISO 9712, so technicians hold employer certification written against ASNT SNT-TC-1A, or ISO 9712 certificates issued abroad. An outsourced Level III can sign the written practice, approve NDT procedures and certify Level I and II staff. The constraint sits on the other side of the transaction: inside a SAE-accredited inspection body, personnel competence must be demonstrated to the assessor against NTE INEN-ISO/IEC 17020:2013, meaning training, formal authorisation, witnessed performance and ongoing monitoring records. An SNT-TC-1A card on its own is not sufficient evidence at a SAE witnessing evaluation.
Related: the SAE (ex-OAE) overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.