What is ISO?
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from
more than 140 countries, one from each country.
ISO is a non-governmental organization established in
1947. The mission of ISO is to promote the development of
standardization and related activities in the world with
a view to facilitating the international exchange of goods
and services, and to developing cooperation in the spheres
of intellectual, scientific, technological and economic
activity.
ISO's work results in international agreements which are
published as International Standards.
What is the ISO 9001:2000 standard?
What are Standards?
Standards are documented agreements containing technical
specifications or
other precise criteria to be used consistently as rules,
guidelines, or definitions
of characteristics, to ensure that materials, products,
processes and services
are fit for their purpose.
International Standards thus contribute to making life
simpler, and to
increasing the reliability and effectiveness of the goods
and services we use.
Defining the ISO 9001:2000 Standard
The ISO 9001:2000 standard is a part of the ISO 9000 family
of standards which represents an international consensus
on good management practices with the aim of ensuring that
the organization can time and time again deliver the product
or services that meet the client's quality requirements.
These good practices have been distilled into a set of
standardized requirements for a
quality management system, regardless of what your organization
does, its size, or whether it's in the private, or public
sector.
ISO 9001:2000 lays down what requirements your quality
system must meet, but does not dictate how they should be
met in your organization – which leaves great scope
and flexibility for implementation in different business
sectors and business cultures...as well as different national
cultures.
So, the ISO 9000 family includes standards that give organizations
guidance and requirements on what constitutes an effective
quality management system.
For further information, refer to the ISO
web site
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