ISO/TS 16949:2009

Over the past years, the U.S. and European automotive industry have established their own industry-specific quality system standards for suppliers, viz. QS-9000, VDA 6.2, EAQF and AVSQ. For suppliers this involved high costs since specific customer requirements meant that certification to multiple standards could not be excluded.

With ISO/TS 16949 a joint standard has been established, which defines a uniform quality system standards in the automotive industry worldwide.

The ISO/TS 16949:2009 has been released effective 15th June 2009.

ISO/TS 16949:2009 introduces no new or changed requirements. ISO 9001:2008 is based on clarifications or amendments to the existing requirements of ISO 9001:2000.

The certification status to ISO/TS 16949:2002 remains in effect for the certification life. Certification to ISO/TS 16949:2009 is recognized with the effective date of the release of ISO/TS 16949:2009.

The official communication by IATF can be found in the IATF communiquées 2008-006 and 2009-010. For further information please check the IATF homepage.

Certification guidelines 3. edition

The certification guidelines for the ISO/TS 16949 have been modified and all relevant parties have been informed of the changes. As of 1st January 2009 the 3rd edition for all certified companies and companies pending certification will become binding.

These requirements and all annexes will be applied to the audit process, to auditor qualifications and to the awarding of the certificates. In the introduction the IATF refers expressly to the fact that these requirements must be understood by each customer, who is in possession of or wishes to obtain certification to ISO/TS 16949.

The basic amendments are in chapters 3, 5, 7 and 8.

An outline of the changes in detail, which apply primarily to you, as well as a list where you can receive your own personal copy can be found here .