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ISO 9001:2008 and the Aerospace Standards

As we all know, the AS9100B standard (and current revisions AS9110 and AS9120) is based on and includes the ISO 9001:2000 requirements. Faced with the impending release of ISO 9001:2008 November 2008, the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) issued resolution 55 allowing companies that meet the requirements of both the AS9100 revision B (and the current revisions of AS9110 and AS9120) standard and ISO 9001:2008 to have both standards included on their certificate of registration.

It was hoped that since the ISO 9001:2008 based AS9100C standard was expected to be released in 2009, AS9100B registered companies would upgrade their certifications to AS9100C and therefore, also meet the requirements of ISO 9001:2008. For those companies not yet ready to meet the new requirements of AS9100 C, they would be able to maintain their current revision of AS9100B and merely upgrade their current ISO certification to the 2008 version as allowed by resolution 55 before ISO 9001:2000 expires in November 2010. Those companies would still be expected though to upgrade to the AS9100C standard before the expiry of the AS9100B standard though this date has not yet been set (watch this newsletter for further information on the release dates of the AS9110:2008 and AS9120:2008 standards).

The most recent delay in the release of the AS9101 checklist (Click here to review details) has pushed back the date that certification bodies can begin performing 3rd party audits to the newly released AS9100C standard to around the first quarter of 2010. That being the case, the timeline for companies to upgrade their certifications to AS9100C and ISO 9001:2008 before ISO 9001:2000 expires in November 2010 may only be a few months!

Therefore, NQA has been requiring those aerospace customers who do not plan on upgrading their certificates to the AS9100 C standard before November 2010 to address the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 standard before that time. NQA auditors and your client support representative will work with you to make sure that all aerospace certifications include ISO 9001:2008 before that time.