ISO 9001:2000

Changes to the ISO 9000 Series

The ISO 9000 (1994 version) family of standards contains more than 20 documents. The year 2000 revision consists of four primary standards supported by a number of technical reports.

ISO 9001 is the only requirements standard of the series; ISO 9002 and ISO 9003 have been withdrawn. Tailoring of the ISO 9001 requirements will be permitted to omit requirements that do not apply to an organization. Examples of tailoring include the omission of design and development when these activities are not applicable within an organization.

ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 are a "consistent pair" of standards. ISO 9001 contains the requirements, and ISO 9004 providing guidance for quality system performance improvement. The revised ISO 9004 is not an implementation guide to ISO 9001.

The ISO 9000-2000 series consists of four core Standards:

1. ISO 9000 - Quality Management Systems -- Fundamentals and Vocabulary (replacing ISO 8402).
2. ISO 9001 - Quality Management Systems -- Requirements. "To provide confidence as a result of demonstration in product/service conformance to established requirements."
3. ISO 9004 - Quality Management Systems -- Guidance for Performance Improvement. "To achieve benefits for all stake holders through sustained customer satisfaction."
4. ISO 10011 - Guidelines for Auditing Quality Systems.

Changes to ISO 9001

The year 2000 revision to ISO 9001 contains several new requirements focusing on continuous improvement and customer needs. It also changes existing requirements and departs from the current 20-element structure.

The requirements of ISO 9001 has been reorganized into five main topics following a process approach:

1. Quality Management System -- General quality management system and documentation requirements
2. Management Responsibility -- Commitment, customer focus, policy, planning, and communication
3. Resource Management -- Human resources, infrastructure and work environment
4. Product Realization -- Planning, customer related processes, design, purchasing Production and service operations, and control of monitoring and measuring devices
5. Measurement, Analysis and Improvement -- Monitoring and measurement, control of nonconforming product, analysis of data and improvement

How will UL’s Registered Firms be Affected?

UL allows all existing Registered firms three years to bring their systems into compliance with the new standard. Throughout the transition process, UL clients will have the option of maintaining compliance to the 1994 version or immediately initiating the upgrade process to the year 2000 version. This transition program was influenced by ISO, Accreditation Bodies, Government and the marketplace. If any changes in UL’s transition policy occur, we will advise you accordingly.

Throughout the process, UL will work with you to meet your needs while complying with implementation requirements. The process will be made as seamless as possible through our continuous assessment activities.

Firms currently registered to ISO 9002 will migrate to ISO 9001, indicating that Design and Development requirements do not apply to their organization.

Registered Firms will typically be upgraded to the year 2000 revision during a regularly scheduled Continuous Assessment visit.

Along with briefings for clients that was initiated in mid-1999, UL continues to perform gap analyses to help clients transition to ISO 9001:2000. Again, the major changes in the fourth quarter of 2000 were:

1. One requirements document - ISO 9001 (9002 & 9003 withdrawn).
2. A "process approach" used to reorganize existing 20 clauses into five processes.
3. Continuous Improvement and Customer Focus explicit in ISO 9001.

Thus, UL lays greater emphasis on Top management.

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