ISO/TC 176/SC 1 - Concepts and terminology

This document establishes the fundamental concepts and principles of quality management which are universally applicable to the following: organizations seeking sustained success through the implementation of a quality management system (QMS); customers seeking confidence in an organization’s ability to consistently provide products and services conforming to their requirements; organizations seeking confidence in their supply chain that product and service requirements will be met; organizations and interested parties seeking to improve communication through a common understanding of the vocabulary used in quality management; organizations performing conformity assessments against the requirements of ISO 9001; providers of training, assessment or advice in quality management; developers of related standards. This document defines terms that apply to all quality management documents and QMS standards developed by ISO/TC 176. This document is applicable to all organizations, regardless of size, complexity or business model.

ISO 9000:2015 describes the fundamental concepts and principles of quality management which are universally applicable to the following: organizations seeking sustained success through the implementation of a quality management system; customers seeking confidence in an organization's ability to consistently provide products and services conforming to their requirements; organizations seeking confidence in their supply chain that their product and service requirements will be met; organizations and interested parties seeking to improve communication through a common understanding of the vocabulary used in quality management; organizations performing conformity assessments against the requirements of ISO 9001; providers of training, assessment or advice in quality management; developers of related standards. ISO 9000:2015 specifies the terms and definitions that apply to all quality management and quality management system standards developed by ISO/TC 176.

ISO 9000:2005 describes fundamentals of quality management systems, which form the subject of the ISO 9000 family, and defines related terms. It is applicable to the following: a) organizations seeking advantage through the implementation of a quality management system; b) organizations seeking confidence from their suppliers that their product requirements will be satisfied; c) users of the products; d) those concerned with a mutual understanding of the terminology used in quality management (e.g. suppliers, customers, regulators); e) those internal or external to the organization who assess the quality management system or audit it for conformity with the requirements of ISO 9001 (e.g. auditors, regulators, certification/registration bodies); f) those internal or external to the organization who give advice or training on the quality management system appropriate to that organization; g) developers of related standards.

This International Standard describes fundamentals of quality management systems, which form the subject of the ISO 9000 family, and defines related terms. This International Standard is applicable to the following: organizations seeking advantage through the implementation of a quality management system; organizations seeking confidence from their suppliers that their product requirements will be satisfied; users of the products; those concerned with a mutual understanding of the terminology used in quality management (e.g. suppliers, customers, regulators); those internal or external to the organization who assess the quality management system or audit it for conformity with the requirements of ISO 9001 (e.g. auditors, regulators, certification/registration bodies); those internal or external to the organization who give advice or training on the quality management system appropriate to that organization; developers of related standards.