Beyond QSAR: ISO 9000/14000 and product certification to be merged into IAF
Geneva
The ISO/IEC Quality System Assessment Recognition (QSAR) program to encourage worldwide acceptance of ISO 9000 certificates has been discontinued, due to the fact that its activities have been largely duplicated by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). The QSAR program was originally launched in 1996 by ISO (International Organization for Standardization and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) in response to fears — particularly from developing countries — that ISO 9000 certificates issued by their own national certification bodies might not be recognized internationally.
Since then, a market survey indicated that the problem of non-acceptance of accredited ISO 9000 certificates in international trade is not as great as had been originally feared. Also, the IAF now has its own process of peer assessment, including mutual acceptance of its members` accreditations of certification bodies in their respective countries. — SES