Information Sheets > The ISO 9001:2000 Transition (page 2 of 3)

TRANSITION ARRANGEMENTS

The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) has agreed to a period of three years, following publication of the final version of ISO 9001:2000, for clients of accredited certification bodies to achieve full compliance with the revised standard. Publication of the new final standard is expected in the final quarter of 2000. During the three-year transition period, new clients seeking certification will have the option to decide whether to seek certification against either the 1994 or ISO 9001:2000 transition version of the standard. Whilst this allows organisations currently developing and implementing their quality management system the flexibility to continue using the 1994 standard, they are obviously recommended to make any necessary changes sooner rather than later.

At the beginning of 2001, following publication of the revised ISO 9001:2000 standard, assessors will usually advise clients of the areas where their systems and procedures require amendment, during the routine surveillance visit. This will allow enough time for the necessary amendments to be made before the next surveillance visit, when the assessor will be able to verify that the system complies with the revised standard. In this way, ASL anticipates that clients will be able to comply with the new standard well before the end of the transition period. Clients will then be issued with a revised certificate of registration which makes reference to ISO 9001:2000. ASL expects that, in most instances, transition to the revised standard will be monitored as part of the normal surveillance procedure and that there will, therefore, be no additional charges associated with the change.

Assessments for new registrants will be conducted and certificates issued against the 1994 standard, as assessors will identify areas where amendments to the system are necessary in the assessment report. As with existing registrants, their transition to the new standard will then be monitored during the surveillance programme.

Since the three year transition period has been agreed by IAF, it will be applied universally across the world by all accredited certification bodies. By the third anniversary of the publication of ISO 9001:2000 all accredited certificates, whether in Japan, Brazil, India, USA, the UK or elsewhere, will reference the new standard.

ISO 9001:2000 Transition (page 1)
ISO 9001:2000 Transition - Common Questions (page 3)