FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2003-04-23

AOQC Moody International voluntarily withdraws SCC accreditation

OTTAWA - The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) announced that, effective March 31, 2003, AOQC Moody International Registration Ltd. (AOQC) located in Oshawa Ontario has voluntarily withdrawn its SCC accreditation for their quality management systems registration program - also referred to as ISO 9000 registration.

AOQC has indicated that clients holding SCC-accredited ISO 9000 certificates have been transferred to the AOQC Moody International Certification office located in Houston, Texas which holds accreditation for quality systems under another accreditation body. AOQC has confirmed that the transfer of registration was 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 the IAF document, please visit http://www.accreditationforum.com/pdf/FG62_2pub.pdf.

The ISO 9000 series of standards were developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and 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 system. Registration is a means of demonstrating to clients, the public, regulators and other interested parties that a quality management system conforms to ISO 9000.

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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