What is ISO 9000?

There is often much confusion around the various ISO 9000 standards because ISO 9000 is a series of documents that define requirements for the Quality Management System Standard and ISO 9000:2005 is one of those standards.

Buy ISO 9000:2005

 

Specifically, ISO 9000:2005 explains the fundamentals of quality management systems (like ISO9001) and Vocabulary used in the ISO9000 Standards and:

• Describes the fundamentals of the QMS in the ISO9000 family.
• Defines the related terms in the ISO 9000 QMS.
• Is used as guidance when implementing ISO 9000 Standards.
• Does NOT have any reqirements, so an organization does NOT certify to ISO900.
• It is scheduled to be updated in the next few years.
  (See Supporting ISO Standards)

What's in a name?

The previous version of ISO 9000:2005 was ISO 9000:2000. The last 4 digits (2000), represent the year of the last revision. People often confused ISO 9000:2000 with ISO 9001:2000, which has since been updated to ISO 9001-2008

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Learn about the ISO 9000 Family of Standards, including these:

• What is ISO 9001? (the stated Requirements of ISO 9000)
  • Read about the ISO 9001:2008 Requirements
• What is ISO 9002? (Obsolete)
• What is ISO 9003? (Obsolete)
• What is ISO 9004? (Guidance for Sustained Success of an Organization)

ISO 9001:2008 lists requirements, while ISO 9000:2005 and ISO 9004:2009 are Quality Guidelines. People often say "ISO 9000 certified", but what they mean is they have met the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard. Read about ISO 9001...