ISO 17021 update

Below is the original article about the ISO 17021 standard that appeared in INform 8 in 2005. For the most recent updates please follow the links below:

ISO 17021-2 updates - INform 14, 2007

Latest on ISO 17021 - INform 11, 2006

In the fast-moving world of ISO standards development, all is changing in the world of auditor certification. The first edition of ISO 17021 part one, ‘Conformity assessment - requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems’, will cancel and replace ISO/IEC Guide 62 (QMSs) and ISO/IEC Guide 66 (environmental management systems). It will also provide a platform for certification of other management systems.

A second draft for public comment made necessary by the number of comments about the first should become available in September 2005 for a two month period. Work has just started on ISO 17021 part two, ‘Auditor competence’.

The ISO working group believes there have been improvements, in that the standard now:

• reduces the proliferation of standards
• is the first core conformity assessment standard to be developed with the advantage of a range of recent changes to working practice and understanding in place. That is: the horizontally applicable terminology is now in conformity with ISO terminology standards and available in BS EN ISO/IEC 17000 ‘Conformity assessment - vocabulary and general principles’; common elements across the core standards are to be found in a group of ISO/IEC PAS documents designed for the internal use of ISO/CASCO working groups; adoption of a functional approach to the orientation of the requirements in the core standards as opposed to a body approach; a realization that the image and integrity of the accreditation and certification system of providing effective assurance for the effectiveness of management systems standards is under attack
• has incorporated procedures pragmatically developed by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) for their members to follow when applying the last editions of ISO/IEC Guides 62 and 66.

    
However, known objections to the first draft international standard include the following:

• a formal complaint made by the US about a requirement for the certification body’s QMS to conform to ISO 9001 has been upheld by ISO. It is now intended to give certification body’s a choice of having a QMS that conforms to ISO 9001 or another specified defined QMS
• the draft standard is too prescriptive, thus stifling innovation. It should be more performance-based in accordance with ISO drafting rules
• the draft standard adds cost through increased administrative requirements without adding value to the end customer
• the clause requiring complete separation of legal entity for consultation and certification services is unnecessary and could be legally challenged as a restriction in trade which could be in contravention of US anti-trust law and EU competition law
• the draft standard does not pay enough attention to advanced auditing practice capabilities made possible through increased use of electronic communication
• concerns that the working group has virtually no representation outside the conformity assessment industry, ie from wider industry users of accredited certification for their management systems or indeed from consumers, the final end customers

Chris Cox

Programme manager, BSI

For more information visit www.iso.org