FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2003-06-05

IQSR voluntarily withdraws SCC accreditation for management systems registration programs subsequent to purchase by Orion

OTTAWA - The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) today announced that, effective June 10, 2003, International Quality System Registrars (IQSR) located in Mississauga, Ontario has voluntarily withdrawn its SCC accreditations for their quality management systems (QMS) registration program, and environmental management systems (EMS) registration program - also referred to as ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 registration, respectively. IQSR's withdrawal of SCC accreditation is based on a business decision and is the direct result of IQSR's acquisition by Orion Registrars Inc.

IQSR clients currently registered to the ISO 9000 series of standards will be transferred to Orion Registrar Inc. (Orion) - also an SCC accredited registration body. Under the Orion accreditation, former IQSR clients will continue to maintain their quality management systems registration under the SCC accreditation. The transfer of registrations will be performed in accordance with the IAF Guidance on the application of ISO/IEC guide 62 Issue 2, Annex 4, Transfer of accredited certification/registration. For additional information regarding this document, please visit http://www.accreditationforum.com/pdf/FG62_2pub.pdf.

IQSR has also indicated that clients holding SCC-accredited ISO 14000 certificates will be transferred to the Orion office located in Arvada, Colorado which holds accreditation for environmental management systems under another accreditation body. The transfer of registration will be performed in accordance with the IAF Guidance on the application of ISO/IEC Guide 66 Issue 2, Annex 2, Transfer of accredited certification/registration. For additional information regarding the IAF document, please visit http://www.accreditationforum.com/pdf/FG66_2pub.pdf.

Affected IQSR clients should contact IQSR directly in order to discuss the options available to them.

The ISO 9000 and 14000 series of standards were developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The ISO 9000 standards have recently been revised to form the new ISO 9000:2000 series. The voluntary consensus standards describe the administrative elements that must be in place so that an organization can effectively manage its quality and /or environmental systems. Registration is a means of demonstrating to clients, the public, regulators and other interested parties that a quality management system conforms to ISO 9000 and ISO 14000.

The Standards Council of Canada is a Crown corporation with the mandate to promote efficient and effective voluntary standardization, and is Canada's representative at ISO and an IAF-MLA Signatory. For more information on the Standards Council's accreditation programs visit www.scc.ca, or contact the Standards Council's Conformity Assessment Branch via e mail at [email protected].

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