Don't merge ISO 9000 (quality) and ISO 14000 (environment) into one family of standards, but make it easier for businesses to implement both by making them more compatible - and get the job finished by 2000/2001.
This is the basic conclusion of a technical advisory group (TAG) set up by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) to look into the question of how to achieve a better interface between its two families of management system standards for users that want to implement both.
ISO's Technical Management Board (TMB) is now studying the recommendations - the result of a year-long study - made by ISO/TAG 12, ISO 9000/ISO 14000 Compatibility, and will take final decisions on them in mid-1998.
For TAG 12, "compatibility" of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 "means that common elements of the standards can be implemented in a shared manner, in whole or in part, by organizations without unnecessary duplication or the imposition of conflicting requirements. `Compatibility' does not mean that the text of the common elements of the standards needs to be identical, although they should be whenever practically possible".
The main recommendations of TAG 12's report are summarized below:
- The standards. After examining the various standards in the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families, TAG 12 favours the following actions to increase their compatibility:
- Relevant terms and definitions should be identical and there should be consistent use of terminology in both families of standards;
- Management system standards in the two families should be compatible and, as far as possible, aligned;
- Auditing standards in the two families should be integrated as far as possible to consist of a common core document with accompanying separate modules on quality and environment.
- Responsibilities. TAG 12 recommends leaving the job of achieving the compatibility of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 with the two ISO technical committees responsible for them, respectively, TC 176 and TC 207. It notes that they have stepped up their efforts in this direction within a Joint Coordination Group at committee level and joint subgroups dealing with specific aspects of compatibility: terminology, management systems and auditing.
- Timetable. TAG 12 underlines the importance of coordinated development and publication of the next revisions of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000. TC 176 and TC 207 have drafted timetables for fulfilling these aims, with a deadline of 2000/2001. "It is planned," says TAG 12 in its report, "that the final documents published in these years will have achieved the highest practical levels of compatibility."
- Stakeholder needs. In the ISO system, standards are developed by national delegations of experts from business, government and other relevant organizations. They are chosen by the national standards institutes participating in the technical committee concerned and are required to present a consensus position based on the views of stakeholders in their country. TAG 12 recommends that ISO review the current methods of inputting stakeholder needs into this technical work to see if they can be made even more effective.
- Certification. ISO 9000 standards are used extensively as models for the certification of management systems and ISO 14001 is expected to follow suite. In view of this, TAG 12 recommends "active communication and participation" between TC 176 and TC 207, associations representing accreditation and certification bodies, and CASCO - the ISO committee developing standards and guidelines on conformity assessment.
- Transition.TAG 12 wants ISO to work with the accreditors and certifiers to ensure a smooth transition from the 1994 versions of ISO 9000 and the 1996 versions of ISO 14000 to the Year 2000/2001 revised and compatible editions. This would involve developing transition plans that take account of training, implementation and conformity assessment needs.
- Making sure. The TAG 12 report offers criteria for assessing and monitoring the progress towards compatibility and recommends regular reporting at full committee level and to TMB.
Its report completed, TAG 12 has been dissolved by the TMB. The latter has asked the ISO/TC 176/TC 207 Joint Coordination Group, CASCO and its own national members to come back by 30 April 1998 with comments and proposals on how to implement TAG 12's recommendations. The TMB will weigh these up and take decisions at its next meeting in June 1998.
Note to Editors
Compatibility, integration and alignment
TAG 12 based its concept of compatibility on the definition from ISO/IEC Guide 2:1996 as the "suitability of products, processes or services for use together under specific conditions to fulfil relevant requirements without causing unacceptable interactions". Integration was understood as having "a single top-level generic management standard with optional, modular supporting standards covering specific requirements. Alignment was taken as referring to "parallel management standards specific to an individual discipline, but with a high degree of commonality of structure and content".