ISO (International Organization for Standardization) has just published the sixth edition of the ISO Directory of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 accreditation and certification bodies.
The directory lists 747 certification bodies, with full contact details (address, telephone, fax and, where available, e-mail address and name of a contact person) in 97 countries offering management system auditing and certification/registration services to the ISO 9000 (quality management) and ISO 14000 (environmental management) standards. It also includes entries for 52 national accreditation bodies - these are the organizations established in a number of countries to approve certification bodies as competent.
The ISO Directory of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 accreditation and certification bodies, sixth edition (ISBN 92-67-10348-3), price 44 Swiss francs, is available from ISO national member institutes (see list with full contact details), or from ISO Central Secretariat (customerservice@iso.org).
The total of 747 certification bodies included in the 2002 edition compares with 726 in 2001, 564 in 1999, and 311 in 1995, the years in which the three previous editions were published.
The top six countries in terms of the number of certification bodies operating there are the following: Germany, 86; United Kingdom, 69; United States, 55; Italy, 46; China/Hong Kong, 41, and Japan, 40.
ISO collates and publishes the directory as a service to meet the high demand for information relating to its ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 standards. However, it does not itself carry out auditing and certification, nor issue ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 certificates. This is done independently of ISO by the certification bodies, although ISO does publish guidelines to encourage best practice by both accreditation and certification bodies.