October 2005 e-Newsletter

The International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) has an Online Aerospace Supplier Information System (OASIS) database that lists AS9100, AS9110, and AS9120 certified suppliers. You can register for free to have access to this database and search for certified suppliers by country, state, registrar, or certificate number.

When specific suppliers are selected from the database, their certificate details and history are displayed, including address, certificate number, issue history, registration scope, and expiration date.

If you want to view the certified supplier's assessment results summary and scoring data in the database, you can submit a request to the supplier's designated OASIS administrator. For more information, go to OASIS.

BSI Management Systems has published an ISO 9001:2000 Quick Reference Checklist based on the Summary of Requirements created by Whittington & Associates. You can download a copy of the document at the BSI web site: (http://www.bsiamericas.com/Quality/GuidanceDocuments2/index.xalter).

Do you know about the environmental implications of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? Although SOX legislation has focused primarily on financial issues, the environmental implications are very important. Below are items that business continuity professionals should know about SOX:

1. Regulation S-K, Item 101 (17 CFR 229.101) - Description of Business - Requires that registrants reveal any material effects that compliance or non-compliance with federal, state and local environmental regulations are likely to have on earnings, competitive position and capital expenditures.

2. Regulation S-K, Item 103 (17 CFR 229.103) - Legal Proceedings - Requires disclosure of any environmental administrative or judicial proceeding if the proceeding is
material, involves a claim for more than 10% of current assets, or involves potential monetary sanctions in excess of $100,000.

3. Regulation S-K, Item 303 (17 CFR 229.303) - Management’s Discussion and Analysis - Companies must disclose known trends, events or uncertainties that may have a material effect on their financial condition. These guidelines include environmental trends such as the cost of compliance with anticipated new regulations.

What this means is that executives, managers and employees must be more prepared to enter the often messy world of environmental issues. Specifically, SOX increases the responsibilities of management to implement control procedures within the company. Senior management will be held accountable to ensure: 1) that procedures are in place to transmit environmental information to the appropriate corporate officer within a timely manner so that informed disclosure decisions can be made, 2) that environmental disclosures comply with requirements, and 3) that environmental liabilities are reflected in the financial statements. SOX does not actually change the disclosure requirements, but requires management to certify that the correct controls and procedures are in place to accurately disclose material changes in the company’s financial condition.

Companies are now required to have a company protocol in place for identifying, tracking, quantifying, and assessing environmental issues. The required actions to comply with SOX will include reviewing pending or threatened litigation, current regulatory obligations, emerging trends and potentially new environmental regulations. Senior managers will need to be involved in the evaluation of information required to assess costs and liabilities. It is of the utmost importance that these managers possess the tools and support to understand the significance of the information they are provided. These elements can only be satisfied through the cooperation and regular communication of senior managers and staff, outside environmental consultants and legal counsel.

Recognizing that increased disclosure would improve compliance, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has joined the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by intensifying its efforts to ensure that companies are in compliance with environmental disclosure rules. The EPA even features a section on their web site, which presents compliance history on companies for the public to view. This makes it easy to compare environmental disclosures made in the past with current SEC filings.

Executives of a privately held company who believe that the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations do not impact them are mistaken. Any private firm that one day hopes to become public needs to assess their ability to meet SOX requirements. Furthermore, a perception of social responsibility is becoming a requirement to do business with many customers, investors and partners.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is a financial regulation with environmental implications. Senior management must realize the importance of ensuring that a system is in place in which information is collected and then distributed to the correct individuals within the company to make disclosure decisions. Those that are able to use the requirements to increase knowledge of their own company will be taking a reporting requirement and using it to their advantage.

This article was written by Thomas Anderson and Jason Schnellenberger (Copyright 2005 Witter Publishing Corporation. Reprinted with permission)

5. Latest ISO Certification Survey Results

The annual ISO Survey of Certifications, now in its 14th edition, provides a worldwide view of certification to ISO’s quality and environmental management system standards. The latest edition reveals the situation at the end of 2004, the first full year after the three-year period allowed for transition to the ISO 9001:2000 version.

The worldwide total of certificates to the ISO 9001:2000 quality management systems standard at the end of last year was 670,399, an increase of 35% over the previous year and 64% over 2000, the year before the transition to ISO 9001:2000 began. Certificates have been issued in 154 countries.

With 90,569 ISO 14001 certificates at the end of 2004, an increase of 37% over the previous year, ISO’s environmental management system standard confirms its global progression. Certificates have been issued in 127 countries. The increase in the number of certificates in 2004 is the largest so far recorded in the ten surveys in which ISO 14001 has been included.

For the first time, the survey provides certification data on two ISO standards that include the requirements of ISO 9001:2000, plus sector-specific requirements. It shows that at least 10,056 certificates had been issued in 62 countries to ISO/TS 16949:2002, which gives quality management systems requirements for suppliers to the international automotive industry.

In addition, at least 3,068 certificates had been issued in 56 countries to ISO 13485:2003, the sector-specific quality management standard for the medical device sector.

The survey points out that if the number of certifications to the ISO 9001:2000-based specific quality requirements published by ISO for the automotive industry and the medical device sector is added to the total for ISO 9001:2000 then the aggregate total at the end of 2004 was 683,523.

“Even this figure does not fully reflect the market penetration of ISO 9001:2000,” ISO Secretary General Alan Bryden commented. “ISO 9001:2000 is also the core for specific quality standards developed by major sectors. An example is the telecommunication sector’s TL 9000, which accounts for well over 1,000 certificates. ISO has also worked with the oil and gas industry to develop the ISO 9001:2000 based ISO/TS 29001 and this will no doubt generate many more certifications. The conclusion is that ISO 9001:2000 is providing a common, harmonized base of quality system requirements for global supply chains in one major sector after another.

“In fact, the survey results confirm that both ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 are thoroughly integrated with the world economy. They show that the transition to the improved, more rigorous ISO 9001:2000 version has been a success as the world total of certifications is now far in excess of the total before the transition began. This augurs well for the current transition to the improved ISO 14001:2004.

“One of the development objectives for ISO 9001:2000 was to make it easier for service providers to achieve benefits from the ISO 9000 approach. Therefore, it is both encouraging and highly significant that not only ISO 9001:2000 but also ISO 14001 certification is now highest in the service sectors, each accounting for 31% of all certificates. This validates ISO’s decision to make standards for services one of its major growth areas.”

Top Ten Countries for ISO 9001 Certificates

Rank	Country	Certificates
1	China	132,926
2	Italy	84,485
3	United Kingdom	50,884
4	Japan	48,989
5	Spain	40,972
6	United States	37,285
7	France	27,101
8	Germany	26,654
9	Australia	17,365
10	India	12,558

Top Ten Countries for ISO 14001 Certificates

Rank	Country	Certificates
1	Japan	19,584
2	China	8,862
3	Spain	6,473
4	United Kingdom	6,253
5	Italy	4,785
6	United States	4,759
7	Germany	4,320
8	Sweden	3,478
9	France	2,955
10	Korea	2,609

Top Ten Countries for ISO/TS 16949 Certificates

Rank	Country	Certificates
1	USA	3,693
2	Germany	1,043
3	Mexico	566
4	Spain	526
5	China	459
6	Korea	366
7	United Kingdom	366
8	Czech Republic	307
9	Brazil	299
10	Canada	258

Top Ten Countries for ISO 13485 Certificates

Rank	Country	Certificates
1	USA	770
2	Italy	678
3	United Kingdom	548
4	Germany	178
5	Switzerland	161
6	France	147
7	Austria	70
8	Sweden	67
9	Canada	57
10	Israel	54

For more information, go to the survey results at ISO’s web site, including world, regional and country breakdowns.

6. Class Schedule: October, 2005 - December, 2005

ISO 9001:2000 Lead Auditor (RABQSA Certified) - BSI Management Systems
Initial course version developed by Larry Whittington

October	November	December
03-07 Reston, VA	07-11 Detroit, MI	05-09 Chicago, IL
17-21 Atlanta, GA	14-18 Roanoke, VA	12-16 Atlanta, GA
17-21 Houston, TX	14-18 San Jose, CA	12-16 Las Vegas, NV
24-28 San Diego, CA	28-02 Reston, VA	- -
31-04 Orlando, FL	- -	- -

ISO 9001:2000 Internal Auditor (RABQSA Certified) - BSI Management Systems
Initial course version developed by an Associate at Whittington & Associates

October	November	December
11-13 Roanoke, VA	01-03 San Diego, CA	06-08 Reston, VA
18-20 Reston, VA	15-17 Chicago, IL	- -
- -	29-01 Atlanta, GA	- -

On-site Courses
The above public courses can be offered on-site at your facility. In addition, we offer these on-site courses:

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Whittington & Associates provides training, consulting and auditing services for quality systems based on ISO 9001, ISO/TS16949, TL9000, AS9100, ISO 13485, as well as, ISO 27001, ISO 20000, ISO 22000, and ISO 14001.