Common elements in ISO/CASCO standards

 

by Natalya Roshka, IAS lead assessor

 
 
The first meeting of ISO/CASCO WG 23 took a place September 21-22, 2017 at ISO headquarters in Geneva. The scope of this work group was to create a new document, which will provide a basis for developing other ISO/CASCO documents and will include obligatory requirements and recommended text for ISO/IEC series 17000 standards.

The new document (QS-CAS-PROC/33, "Common elements in ISO/CASCO standards") will replace the following Publicly Available Specifications (PAS):

  • ISO/PAS 17001, Conformity assessment — Impartiality — Principles and requirements
  • ISO/PAS 17002, Conformity assessment — Confidentiality — Principles and requirements
  • ISO/PAS 17003, Conformity assessment — Complaints and appeals — Principles and requirements
  • ISO/PAS 17004, Conformity assessment — Disclosure of information — Principles and requirements
  • ISO/PAS 17005, Conformity assessment — Use of management systems in conformity assessment — Principles and requirements
QS-CAS-PROC/33 will help work groups to develop international standards for conformity assessment and accreditation bodies and will provide a common structure for those standards. Common structure of conformity assessment standards will be useful for those conformity assessment bodies which perform more than 1 type of conformity activities and must comply with 2 or more standards from ISO/IEC series 17000.

The new draft includes the following clauses:

  • Scope
  • History
  • General
  • Process for maintaining and revising the Common Elements document
  • Impartiality
  • Confidentiality
  • Complaints
  • Appeals
  • Competency
  • Management systems in ISO/CASCO documents
As long as QS-CAS-PROC/33 is not an ISO deliverable document, there is no specific timeframe for its development. The initial draft was reviewed by secretariat by October 6. Through October 20 it was reviewed by WG participants to confirm that all the corrections proposed were properly addressed. WG 23 consultation took place November 1 through November 30. Collation of comments from WG 23 members completed in early December and the 2nd meeting of the work group is expected for February 2018.