21 January 2002, London:
In response to claims from Dr Lawrence Eicher of ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) that some level of malpractice is involved in the ISO 9000 field, Joe Goasdoué, Chief Executive of the British Quality Foundation, offers this opinion:
"The British Quality Foundation is not directly involved in ISO 9000 standards or certification but the comments of the Secretary-General of ISO clearly give cause for concern.
"Sadly, any supplier that indulges in malpractice is satisfying a market need and it is important to understand why. Too many organisations, particularly small ones, are driven to obtain certification to the standard for the wrong reasons. The most common wrong reason is to satisfy the bureaucratic requirement of an existing or potential customer. If this is the objective, they really don't mind how it is achieved and this presents a great opportunity for what Dr Eicher calls charlatans.
"The root cause of the problem is that many companies in this country have been led to believe that an ISO 9000 certificate guarantees a high standard of quality and service. This is manifestly untrue. If this perception were corrected, business to business customers would start demanding more reliable evidence of capability and high performance. Organisations would then use standards because they wanted to improve their performance and seek certification in support of this goal rather than merely to obtain something to hang on the wall or include in tender documents" .