BS EN ISO 9001:2008 specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization

a) needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and

b) aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

NOTE 1 In BS EN ISO 9001:2008, the term "product" only applies to

a) product intended for, or required by, a customer,

b) any intended output resulting from the product realization processes.

NOTE 2 Statutory and regulatory requirements can be expressed as legal requirements.

This standard is identical to ISO 9001:2008

ISO 9001 is the world's most established quality framework. It is currently being used by around 897,000 organizations in 170 countries worldwide, and sets the standard not only for quality management systems, but management systems in general.

It helps all kinds of organizations to succeed through improved customer satisfaction, staff motivation and continual improvement.

BS EN ISO 9001specifies requirements for a QMS where an organization:

• Needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer and applicable regulatory requirements
• Aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system. This includes processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity and applicable regulatory requirements.

Users of ISO 9001:2000 will have up to two years to upgrade their systems to ISO 9001:2008.

All accredited certifications issued will be to ISO 9001:2008 by the end of 2009. By the end of 2010, existing certification issued to ISO 9001:2000 will no longer be valid. Customers will need the revised version of ISO 9001 in order to keep their certificates up to date.