Requesting an ISO 9001 certification together with an ISO/TS 16949 certification

SQA Advisory Number 12

Original date: February 23, 2005
Revision date: February 23, 2005
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Introduction:

ISO/TS 16949:2002 contains ISO 9001:2000 in its entirety. However, ISO/TS 16949 is strictly an automotive requirement. Consequently, all audit activities are limited to those processes that meet the applicability requirement as defined in the “Rules” for achieving IATF recognition. Some organizations produce both automotive and non-automotive products, and for various reasons, would like to be issued certificates to both ISO/TS 16949 and ISO 9001:2000. This may, or may not require additional assessment time, and is dependent upon several variables.

Discussion:

As stated above, the Technical Standard ISO/TS 16949:2002 is based on and includes all the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 and on the surface, dual certification would appear to be a routine expectation. While this is truly the case when the scope of both certifications is identical, there are exceptions. For instance, when the scope of the ISO 9001:2000 certification is meant to capture those products, services or processes that do not meet ISO/TS 16949:2002 applicability (i.e., those that are non-automotive) an ISO 9001:2000 certificate cannot be issued routinely.

Based on recent guidance from accreditation bodies on this issue, it is important to note that for any organization wishing to have separate registrations to ISO 9001:2000 and ISO/TS 16949: 2002 with non-automotive product lines included within the ISO 9001:2000 scope, additional audit time will be required. That is, additional time needs to be added to the minimum mandated for certification to ISO/TS 16949:2002.

SQA Position:

If the scope for the ISO 9001 management system is identical to the ISO/TS 16949:2002 scope, and as such is fully included in the ISO/TS 16949 audit evidence sampling, then no additional time is required and an ISO 9001:2000 certificate can be issued based on the ISO/TS 16949 audit alone.

If the desired scope of the ISO 9001:2000 management system is not identical to the automotive scope then audit time must be added to the ISO/TS 16949:2002 audit activity. If adding more time is necessary:

1. The additional audit time will be shown as totally separate time in the audit plan and audit schedule. That is to say that the additional ISO 9001 audit time will not be integrated into the ISO/TS 16949 audit time; it can only be added and the two audit activities must be conducted separately.

2. The ISO/TS 16949 and ISO 9001:2000 audits must be conducted within the same audit event or calendar days. Though separate, the required ISO/TS 16949 audit-days and ISO 9001 audit-days cannot be performed at different audit “events”. Also, there will be two separate audit reports.

For particular estimates of audit time, SQA customers are requested to contact their lead auditor.

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