Joint Communiqué of IAF, ISO/TC176 and ISO/CASCO

July 2003

Approaching the end of the ISO 9001:2000 "Transition" period

The 3-year transition period for migration of accredited certificates from the 1994 editions of ISO 9001, 9002 and 9003 to the new ISO 9001:2000 edition will expire on:

15 December 2003

After this date the only valid accredited certificates will be those that state conformity to the requirements of this new edition of ISO 9001, that is to the requirements of ISO 9001:2000, Quality management systems - Requirements.

This transition period and the corresponding expiry date were set as the result of an agreement made in 1999 between ISO's technical committee number 176 (that develops and maintains the ISO 9001 standard), the ISO policy committee on conformity assessment (CASCO) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF)[1]. A communiqué[2] was released at that time establishing and explaining the transition period, which was set at a longer time period (3 years) than is usual for ISO standards. This extended transition period recognised that there had been substantial changes between the 1994 ISO 9001, 9002 and 9003 editions and their single replaceme 9c4 nt ISO 9001:2000 that is used for certification. The ISO 9001:2000 edition includes new requirements for meeting customer expectations and using a process approach to quality management.

Individual organizations that desire to maintain IAF member accredited certificates may need to take immediate action if they have not yet completed the transition to ISO 9001:2000 and programmed their assessment accordingly. It is recommended that they seek advice from their certification/registration body in the first instance.

Dr Thomas Facklam, Chairman, IAF
Dr Trevor Smith, Chairman, ISO/TC 176
Mr Mario O. Wittner, Chairman, ISO/CASCO

2003-07-29
Geneva

[1] IAF is the abbreviation for the International Accreditation Forum, an international association of national Accreditation Bodies from around the world (http://www.iaf.nu).

[2] This joint communiqué was released on 27 September 1999, and can be viewed at the following web address:
http://www.iso.org/iso/en/comms-markets/conformity/iafisotc176.html