Amendment 1 In Management System Standards
Amendment 1 In Management System Standards
IAF and ISO have published a joint communiqué, highlighting the changes being made to a number of Management Systems standards, in the form of additional text highlighting the importance of Climate Change as a consideration within the organisational context for the management system concerned. As the joint communiqué explains, the changes having been instigated in response to the London Declaration on Climate Action.
The purpose of this IAF communication, answering to the IAF Technical Committee Paper raised in Montreal 2023, is to clarify the expectations for Management Systems Certified Organisations, Certification Bodies and Accreditation Bodies, noting that, as stated in the joint communiqué:
“The overall intent of the requirements for clauses 4.1 and 4.2 remain unchanged; these clauses already include the need for the organisation to consider all internal and external issues that can impact the effectiveness of their management system; these new inclusions are assuring that Climate Change is considered within the management system and that it is an external factor that is important enough for our community to require organisations to consider it now.”
Because of the above statement noting that the overall intent of the requirements remains unchanged, and with this change being treated as a clarification rather than a new requirement, it is considered that a full transition programme is not needed in this case, however, the guidance below should be considered.
ISO has introduced amendments to existing and new MSS to reflect climate action commitments
These changes emphasize the need for organisations to consider the effect of climate change on their ability to achieve the intended results of the management system
The amendments include two new statements of text that will be added to various management systems standards.
Organisations shall identify relevant interested parties and their requirements.
Added Note: Relevant interested parties can have requirements related to climate change.
All Type ‘A’ MSS (Management System Standards) are amended to “Climate Change” requirements.
Major MSS include (but not limited to):
Expectation on Certified Organisations
Certified organisations should ensure that they have considered Climate Change aspects and risks within the development, maintenance, and effectiveness of their own (certified) management system(s).
Climate Change, along with other issues, should be determined as relevant or not and if so, considered within an evaluation of risk, within the scope of the management systems standards. Where an organisation operates more than one management system (for example, Quality Management and Health & Safety Management), it should ensure that Climate Change, if determined to be relevant, is considered within the scope of each management system standard.
It is noted that some climate change aspects and risks may be of a general nature, independent of the applicable management system scope or the industry (eg. when related to regulatory compliance or operational adaptability and organizational resilience), while others will be specifically indexed to the requirements of the management system standards, to specific industries (eg. energy production, agriculture, and fisheries) and to characteristics of the organization (eg. geographic allocation, nature of its supply-chain or workforce dynamics).
Certification Bodies should already be ensuring that all internal and external issues have been determined by the organisation as relevant or not and if so, considered in the development and effectiveness of the management system(s), as required by clauses 4.1 and 4.2.
With the new additions on Climate Change, Certification Bodies are expected to ensure that Climate Change has been considered and if determined to be a relevant issue for its management system, included in any objectives and mitigation activities by the organisation, as required. If it was considered not to be a relevant issue by the organisation for its management system, the CB is expected to ensure the effectiveness of the organisation’s process to make this determination and implementing related actions, when applicable.
Timeline and implementation
The Amendments are published for all relevant standards on 23 February 2024. As noted, issues related to Climate Change affecting the context of an organisation’s management system(s) are typically already being considered by organisations.
Therefore, upon publication, certification bodies should include the new text in their auditing of the organisation and its context. As with normal practice, where a certified organisation cannot demonstrate that all external and internal issues that have been determined as relevant, including Climate Change, have been considered, a suitable finding should be raised. Hence there is no timeline for implementation to certified organisations, CBs & ABs, however it should be at the earliest.
The MS standards are amended through the ISO amendment process; however, a revised certificate should not need to be issued, considering that:
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