(ISO: Geneva) -- The International Organization for Standardization and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) have agreed on an implementation plan to ensure a smooth transition of accredited certification to ISO 9001:2008, the latest version of the standard for quality management systems (QMS). The details of the plan are given in the joint communiqué by the two organizations.

Like all of ISO’s more than 17,000 standards, ISO 9001 is periodically reviewed to ensure that it’s maintained at the state of the art and a decision taken to confirm, withdraw or revise the document.

ISO 9001:2008, which is due to be published before the end of the year, will replace the year 2000 version of the standard, which is implemented by business and public-sector organizations in 170 countries. Although certification isn’t a requirement of the standard, the QMS of about one million organizations have been audited and certified by independent certification bodies (also known in some countries as registration bodies) to ISO 9001:2000.

ISO 9001 certification is frequently used in private and public sectors to increase confidence in the products and services provided by certified organizations, between partners in business-to-business relations, in the selection of suppliers in supply chains and in the right to tender for procurement contracts.

ISO is the developer and publisher of ISO 9001, but doesn’t itself carry out auditing and certification. These services are performed independently of ISO by certification bodies. ISO doesn’t control such bodies, but it develops voluntary international standards to encourage good practice in their activities on a worldwide basis. For example, ISO/IEC 17021 specifies the requirements for bodies providing auditing and certification of management systems.

Certification bodies that wish to provide further confidence in their services may apply to be accredited as competent by an IAF-recognized national accreditation body. ISO/IEC 17011 specifies the requirements for carrying out such accreditation. IAF is an international association whose membership includes the national accreditation bodies of 49 economies.

ISO technical committee ISO/TC 176, quality management and quality assurance, which is responsible for the ISO 9000 family of standards, is preparing a number of support documents explaining what the differences are between ISO 9001:2008 and the year 2000 version, why, and what they mean for users. Once approved, these documents will be posted on the ISO web site, probably in October 2008.

For more information, visit www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1152.