ISO (International Organization for Standardization) has just published a new edition of the ISO Directory of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 accreditation and certification bodies.
The directory has entries for 729 bodies in 94 countries offering management system auditing and certification/registration services to the ISO 9000 (quality management) and/or ISO 14000 (environmental management) standards. It also includes entries for 41 national accreditation bodies - these are the organizations established in a number of countries to approve certification bodies as competent to perform certification.
The ISO Directory of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 accreditation and certification bodies - fifth edition (ISBN 92-67-10329-6), price 44 Swiss francs, is available from ISO national member institutes (these are listed with full contact details on the ISO Web site: www.iso.org), or from ISO Central Secretariat: customerservice@iso.org.
The total of 729 certification bodies included in the 2001 edition compares with 557 in 1999, and 316 in 1995, the years in which the two previous editions were published.
The top six countries in terms of the number of certification bodies are as follows: Germany, 98; United Kingdom, 55; Italy, 52; USA, 52; Netherlands, 43, and China, 37.
"The directory is a time and money saver for organizations who are looking for a supplier of certification services," said Mr. Jacques-Olivier Chabot, Director of General Services and Marketing, ISO Central Secretariat. "Country by country, it lists the certification bodies, giving full contact details - address, telephone, fax, and where available, e-mail address and the name of a contact person. In addition, it indicates any accreditations they hold, and also gives contact details of national accreditation bodies, where they exist.
"ISO itself does not carry out either accreditation or certification to ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 and does not control the bodies that do so independently of ISO. What ISO does is develop standards and guides for accreditation and certification to help ensure good practice and consistency worldwide, although the use of these `conformity assessment' documents is less visible than that of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000. The growth in the number of entries in the new edition of the directory is a pointer both to the widespread use and importance of ISO's management system standards and the supporting conformity assessment documents in world trade today."