BEWARE: ISO issues strict new guidelines on publicizing ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 certifications

2003-12-15
ISO has issued strict new guidelines to assist organizations in publicizing certifications to the ISO 9001:2000 quality management system and ISO 14001 environmental management system standards.
The guidelines, Publicizing your ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001 certification, are intended to help organizations apply good practice when publicizing, communicating and promoting their certifications to stakeholders including staff, customers and business partners, and to the general public.
The release of the guidelines was timed to coincide with the 15 December 2003 deadline marking the end of the three-year period given for organizations to make the transition from certificates of conformity to the 1994 versions of ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003 to the single standard that has replaced all three - ISO 9001:2000.
Following the deadline, certificates to the 1994 versions are no longer recognized as valid by the national accreditation bodies that make up the IAF (International Accreditation Forum) and lose their accredited status. The deadline and transition were agreed on by ISO and the IAF and announced prior to ISO's publication of ISO 9001:2000 on 15 December 2000.
ISO's guidelines insist upon reference to the full designation of ISO 9001:2000 (and not just "ISO 9001") in order to avoid any possibility of confusion between certification to the now only valid version and to the older standard.
Among traps that ISO's guidelines will help certified organizations to avoid are the misuse of ISO's logo and name in connection with certification. In fact, ISO itself does not audit organizations and does not issue ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001 certificates. This is carried out independently of ISO by more than 750 certification bodies around the world.
The guidelines also emphasize: "ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 give generic requirements for management systems, not requirements for specific products or services… ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 certification marks of conformity are not to be displayed on products, on product labels, on product packaging, or in any way that may be interpreted as denoting product conformity."
ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden commented: "ISO first published such guidelines in 1993 and they have been periodically updated since then to assist users. We know that we are meeting a market need because, for example, a draft of the latest version posted on ISO's Web site attracted 44 000 visitors within 21 weeks. ISO not only produces useful standards - we also do what we can to facilitate their use."
Last Modified on the 11. February 2009 at 16:30:01 PM
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2010-01-19
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