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ISO 9001: 2008 – Summary of changes

Summary of changes, ISO 9001:2000 to ISO 9001:2008

Clause Clause Title Change 2000 – 2008
0.1 General The change

Additional guidance has been added to clarify the range of factors that will affect the design and implementation of the quality management system (e.g. its business environment, risks)

An additional note has also been included to express the ability of the standard to be used to help organisations meet statutory as well as customer requirements

0.2 Process approach The change

A wording change has been introduced  – organisations must “determine” (rather than “identify”) and manage numerous linked activities

A second wording change emphasises that processes must be capable of achieving desired outputs

0.3 Relationship with ISO 9004 The change

Note added to clarify that at the time of publication ISO 9004 is under review.

0.4 Compatibility with other management systems The change

Note added to clarify the influence of ISO 14001:2004 on the development of ISO 9001:2008

1.1 Scope The change

Wording change to clarify that “product can also mean “intermediate product” and a note to explain that statutory and regulatory requirements may be expressed as legal requirements

Note to clarify that the word “product” applies to any intended output

4.1 General requirements The change

Wording change to require organisations to “determine” rather than “identify” processes needed for the QMS

Notes and explanations included to clarify the requirements regarding “outsourcing” and its relationship with “purchasing”

4.2.1 General documentation requirements The change

Notes will be included to emphasise that “documentation” can also include “records” and that mandatory procedures may be in the form of combined documents, or that requirements may be covered by more than one document

4.2.3 Document control The change

Note to clarify that only external documents affecting the QMS need to be controlled


5.5.2 Management representative The change

Clarification that the MR must be a member of the organisation’s OWN management

6.2.1 Human resources The change

Clarification that competence requirements apply to any personnel whose work affects conformity of product rather than “quality”

6.3 Infrastructure The change

Clarifies that this includes Information Systems

6.4 Environment The change

Clarification of circumstances that are covered by this clause (e.g. noise, temperature, humidity)

7.2.1 Customer related processes The change

Clarification of what may be covered by “post delivery activities”

7.3.1 Design & development planning The change

Clarification that review, validation and verification all have distinct purposes but may be conducted and recorded either separately or in a combined way if appropriate

7.3.3 Design & development outputs The change

Clarification that product preservation requirements must be considered

7.5.4 Customer property The change

Clarification that intellectual property and personal data are covered by the clause

7.6 Control of monitoring & measuring devices The change

Retitled. Replace “devices” with “equipment”. Explanation of its applicability to software

8.2.1 Customer satisfaction The change

Note offers examples of how perception data may be captured

8.2.3 Monitoring and measurement of processes The change

Clarification that identifies that consideration be given to product conformity and QMS effectiveness

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2 Responses to “ISO 9001: 2008 – Summary of changes”


  1. Rob says:

    After more years than I care to count working with quality systems I've realised that the most important thing in business is sales. That is mainly what senior management are concerned about. Sales create cash, cash is king. There's very little in 9001 which contributes to generating sales, apart from it being a requirement for a lot of customers before they consider placing an order. It may help to control internal processes, but that's about it. Rewind back to the 1980s, as a young lad would you have chosen management systems as a career?

  2. admin says:

    Ha, well, have you ever come across anybody that has entered the field of "quality" by design or choice? We have all arrived here by accident That said I do agree that most quality frameworks, ISO 9001 and EFQM included are fundamentally flawed in that they virtually ignore a range of critical success factors, namely 1. The effectiveness of the sales function to do its job 2. The effectiveness of the marketing, PR, publicity, market research and advertising functions and their alignment with delivery 3. The inability to integrate a basic assessment of economic viability into the business management system model What is more I also find that the critical function of customer relationship management is assessed in the most trite and clumsy way Yes it has weaknesses