ISO 9000 News Service
The facts on ISO 9000 - straight from ISO
ISO (International Organization for Standardization),
the very same body that developed the ISO 9000 standards
for quality management and quality assurance, offers the
ISO 9000 News Service to give the facts on ISO 9000.
Companies and organizations implementing ISO 9000 need
answers to specific questions such as the following:
* How have other companies like my own implemented ISO
9000?
* What can I learn from the experience of companies and
organizations in other sectors and in other countries?
* Where can I find more information about certification
and conformity assessment?
* What is the difference between accreditation,
certification and registration?
* Where can I obtain a list of registration bodies in
country X?
* How can I be ISO certified? (In fact, one cannot be ISO
certified - ISO runs no system for verifying and certifying
conformance to standards.)
* Will being assessed and registered to an ISO 9000
standard in country A by assessor B bring my company the
same recognition in countries X, Y and Z?
* When a registration body in country A says it has a
Memorandum of Understanding with another body in country
B, what does it actually mean?
* or, quite simply: Who/where do I ask?
The ISO 9000 News Service, through the ISO 9000 News
and the ISO Bulletin may save subscribers time, energy
and money - as well as avoiding them frustration - by
giving them straight answers to questions such as these.
The News Service credentials
ISO began operating in 1947. It is a worldwide federation
of national standards bodies from over 110 countries. To
date, ISO has developed nearly 10 000 voluntary,
consensus-based International Standards covering just
about every field of industrial, economic, scientific and
technological activity.
The ISO 9000 family of standards for quality management
and quality assurance is one of the most successful in
the history of the organization. The ISO 9000 core series
was first published by ISO in 1987. Today, more than 80
countries have adopted the ISO 9000 series as national
standards. There have also been two large regional
adoptions, CEN (European Committee for Standardization)
and COPANT (the Pan-American Standards Commission).
The ISO 9000 standards represent an international
consensus on the essential features of a quality system
to ensure the effective operation of any business,
whether a manufacturer or service provider, or other type
of organization, whether in public or private sector.
News Service
The ISO 9000 News Service is an information service, an
international communications facilitator supporting the
implementation of the ISO 9000 standards.
News Service subscribers are entitled to :
a subscription to the ISO 9000 News (bi-monthly),
The most important part of the ISO 9000 News Service is
its international journal, published six times a year in
separate English and French editions. ISO 9000 News
is a regular source of information on developments in the
field of quality. Coverage is extremely varied, both in
subject matter and geographically.
The scope of coverage in ISO 9000 News is guided
by a survey indicating that what News Service subscribers
are most interested in reading about is the experience of
companies which have implemented ISO 9000 programmes.
ISO 9000 News coverage is also designed to meet
the requirements expressed by readers for news on ISO 9000
developments in different business and industrial
sectors, and in different parts of the world.
And there is much more. Among other areas to which
special attention is given are developments affecting the
quality scene internationally, such as the ISO/IEC
initiative, QSAR (Quality System Assessment Recognition),
which has the objective of encouraging the worldwide
recognition of certificates of conformance to ISO 9000
standards.
Newcomers to the News Service need not miss out on the
wealth of information that has already been published in ISO
9000 News, as the 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995 editions
are available as bound volumes.
a subscription to the ISO Bulletin (monthly)
The ISO Bulletin provides a monthly overview of
ISO 's standards-development activities. Companies whose
products and services confirm to International Standards
are increasingly free to compete on many more markets
worldwide.
The ISO Bulletin also features the latest news on
the forthcoming ISO 14000 series of International Standards
for environmental management systems. This information
neatly complements the news on ISO 9000 to provide
decision makers with an update on two of the most vital
parameters of business today : quality and the
environment.
Special publications
In addition to ISO 9000 News, News Service
subscribers receive special publications that may be of practical
help in meeting their needs. For example, Publicizing
your ISO 9000 registration provides guidelines for
companies that wish to market their success in achieving
ISO 9000 registration; Implementing ISO 9000, a
step-by-step guideline, in a poster format, explaining
how to draw manimum benefit from the ISO 9000 family of
standards. Looking to the future, the ISO Central
Secretariat will publish brochures explaining the Quality
System Assessment Recognition progamme, QSAR. These publications
will be often offered to the ISO 9000 News Service
subscribers free, or at a special promotion price,
through the ISO member bodies.
Flow of information
Prospective subscribers to the ISO 9000 News Service also
need to understand what the News Service is not:
- The Service is not an auditing body. It does not issue
certificates of conformity to ISO 9000. Neither does ISO.
There is no such thing as "ISO certification".
ISO's job is developing standards - more than 10 000 to date.
Verification and certification of conformance with
standards is carried out independently of ISO by other
bodies.
- The Service is not a management consultancy. It cannot
advise susbcribers how to implement ISO 9000 in their
organizations. But through ISO 9000 News, it can
give subscribers some ideas and guidance by providing
information on what is happening in other companies,
other business sectors and other countries.
- The Service does not develop or maintain the ISO 9000
standards. This is the work of ISO/TC 176, the ISO
Technical Committee on quality management and quality
assurance.
- The Service is not responsible either for preparing
conformity assessment guides. This is the work of ISO/CASCO,
the ISO Committee on conformity assessment.
However, the flow of information is two-way between all
these interested parties. The Serivce, particularly ISO
9000 News, provides feedback to ISO/TC 176 and
ISO/CASCO on the problems encountered in the market by
the end-users of the standards and guides developed
within ISO.
In a nutshell, the ISO 9000 News Service aims to
facilitate communication between newcomers to quality management
and those who, having already made the journey, have
experience to draw on and advice to share. Subscribing to
the Service puts subscribers into an international
network and can help save them time, energy and money in
their quest for ISO 9000.
News Service contacts
Enquiries concerning the ISO 9000 News Service may be
directed to any national member body of ISO, or to the
ISO Central Secretariat in Geneva, at the following
address :
International Organization for Standardization
1, rue de Varembe
Case postale 56
CH-1211 Geneve 20
Tel.: + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax :+ 41 22 733 34 30
Internet: [email protected]
X.400: c=ch: a=400net; p=iso; o=isocs; s=central
ISO Online: http://www.iso.ch/
where the contacts are:
ISO 9000 Customer Services Officer: Mrs. Sahri Passer
ISO 9000 News and Press enquiries: Mr. Roger Frost
ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
is a worldwide federation
of national standards bodies from over 110 countries.
Its mission is to promote
the development of standardization and related
activities throughout the world,
with a view to facilitating the international exchange
of goods and services, and
to developing cooperation in the spheres of
intellectual, scientific, technological
and economic activity.
(c) International Organization for Standardization
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CS960090.038
