ISO 9001: growth in certification
slows

A dramatic drop in the increase of ISO 9001 certificates around the world has been revealed by the ISO 2007 survey. While the number of certificates is still on the rise, the rate of increase fell to six per cent in 2007 from 16 per cent in 2006. China now tops the list of countries with the highest number of ISO 9001 certificates, seconded by Italy.

ISO have cited several factors that have contributed to the lower increase in ISO 9001 certificates, including organizations putting certification on hold until the publication of ISO 9001:2008, the maturing market in certain countries and the continuing growth of sector-specific editions of the standard.

Another suggested reason is a change in the way ISO carried out the survey by only taking their data from primary sources (the certification bodies that issue the certificates) where as in previous years they received information from secondary sources as well. This resulted in the totals for a number of countries, including Australia, Mexico, and the US, being lower than 2006 results.

Other results of the survey show that ISO management systems standards are now implemented in 175 countries, five more than in 2006. The number of ISO 14001 and ISO 13485 certificates has increased substantially, but the rate of certification to ISO 16949 has slowed considerably.

ISO secretary-general Alan Bryden commented: ‘The survey illustrates in a very concrete manner the extent to which ISO management system standards are meeting the organisation's strategic objective of “global relevance” – in other words, adding value for the organisations that use them all over the world.’

A condensed version of the survey is available free of charge from www.iso.org