Draft IAF Communique

ISO 9001 Certification after 15 December 2003

1. At its Annual Meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia, in September 2003, IAF reaffirmed to the market that all accredited certification/registration of Quality Management Systems to ISO 9001:1994, ISO 9002:1994 and ISO 9003:1994 ceases to have validity on 15 December 2003. The decision that this would happen was taken in 1999 by IAF along with the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) committees on Quality Management (ISO/TC 176) and Conformity Assessment (ISO CASCO) in preparation for the withdrawal of those standards by ISO in favour of ISO 9001:2000 (which came into effect on 15 December 2000).
2. Organizations that base their purchasing decisions on the fact that their supplier is third party “ISO 9000 certified/registered” are reminded that after 15 December 2003 the only recognized form of conformity of an ISO 9001 Quality Management System will be an accredited certification/registration to ISO 9001:2000.
3. After 15 December 2003, all accredited certifications/registrations to ISO 9001:1994, ISO 9002:1994 and ISO 9003:1994 will have expired. Any use of accreditation marks on Resolutions IAF17_ver2.doc Printed 26 September, 2003 such certificates will therefore be in error, and in contravention of the intellectual property rights of the owners of the marks.