BIS is the National Standards Body of India and is a founder of ISO. BIS represents India, in ISO. The Technical Committee (TC) number 176 (ISO/TC 176), and its Sub-committees of ISO are responsible for the advancement of ISO 9000 standards. Quality and industry experts from India including BIS officers nominated by BIS, participate in the gatherings of the Technical Committee ISO/TC 176 and its Sub-committees.

ISO 9001 ‘Quality Management Systems – Specifications with Guidance for use’ is a standard and acquired by BIS as IS/ISO 9001. IS/ISO 9001 is the exact replica of ISO 9001. It is a requirements standard. It contains a set of requirements to characterize the operation of the Quality Management System. Since the requirements are expressed in a general structure, it has the flexibility to be applied to any organization. IS/ISO 9001 is the only certification standard in the IS/ISO 9000 family.

There is no difference. They are exactly the same. BIS has adopted the above mentioned ISO 9000 standard and these are numbered as IS/ISO 9000, IS/ISO 9001, IS/ISO 9004.These standards distributed by BIS are exact replica of ISO 9000 standards. BIS also provides certification against IS/ISO 9001 under its Management Systems Certification activity.

• Any organization can apply for certification against IS/ISO 9001. The other standards i.e. IS/ISO 9004 and IS/ISO 9000 are guidance standards and are not implied for certification.

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• The requirements of IS/ISO 9004 should be implemented by the organizations who intend to further improve beyond the requirements of IS/ISO 9001. The standard IS/ISO 9004 has an important element of `self- assessment’ and this standard is not agreeable to certification.

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• ISO 9004 has been adopted by BIS as IS/ISO 9004 which is the exact replica of ISO 9004 and is the companion standard to IS/ISO 9001. For those associations willing to implement the Quality Management System indicated in IS/ISO 9001, IS/ISO 9004 provides guidance and illustrations. As this is a guidance standard, it is not implied for certification.

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In straight forward terms, accreditation is like certification of the certification body. `Accreditation’ should not be used as an interchangeable alternative for certification or registration.

• The other standards of ISO 9000 family have also been adopted by BIS. The new IS/ISO 9000 family involves three main standards: IS/ISO 9000 Fundamentals and vocabulary, IS/ISO 9001 Quality management system requirements and IS/ISO 9004 Managing for sustained success of organizations.