ISO/TC 176 Chair's Strategic Advisory Group Meeting

ISO/TC 176 "Quality Management and Quality Assurance" - The Chair's Strategic Advisory Group recently met for 3 days of meetings.

TC176 Plenary 2023:  Kigali, Rwanda

Plans for this meeting will be finalized in the coming weeks.

One meeting that will be held as part of the plenary will be an update from Working Group WQ6 on the status of the draft of ISO 54002 for all TC members.

An orientation session has been planned for members that are more recent to our committees, to allow them to maximize the experience of a plenary (on site or online!). We are also planning a training session with our hosts, the Rwanda Standards Board.

Meeting locations for plenary sessions in 2024 or in 2025 have not yet been agreed and TC176 are hoping to speak with potential hosts. If your country/ member body is interested in hosting one of the next two meetings, please contact the Committee Manager.

United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

All TC176 standards link to the applicable UNSDGs, as shown here for ISO/TS 54001.

As part of the ISO/ TC 176 Strategic Business plan, plans have been established to review and update the UNSDGs linked to standards in the TC176 portfolio.

We will also be outlining the reasoning behind why a UNSDG has been linked to our standards and ways it can help users of the standard achieve their own actions towards supporting these goals. This project will be led by TC176, but we are looking for expertise on each standard. A survey will be issued soon to gather expertise and ideas.

Liaison Experts & Communication

The importance of liaison expertise to and from other committees and organizations was agreed.

Reinvesting in relationships and communicating with stakeholders is a core element of the TC176 Strategic Plan and will be a strong focus over the coming years.

Ensuring that our website includes clear and timely information is another important priority.

It has been agreed that all future TC176 meetings will include an agenda item that supports the availability of timely, accurate and transparent information relevant to the development of our standards.

We will be showcasing the work within ISO/TC SC1 and SC3, as well as other groups within our committee, to highlight the benefits that this can bring to organizations.

If you participate with other Technical Committees and would like to discuss liaison opportunities further, please feel free to contact us.

TG1, the task group responsible for managing the TC176 website and communications is keen to build expertise, especially from different regions, so please let us know if this is something you would like to get involved with.

Upcoming Ballots

There will be several ballots in TC176 in the coming months.

These will include committee positions, the addition of leadership roles to support convenors, and consideration of the transfer of ISO 10005 and ISO 10007 to SC3 with other supporting standards in the 10000 series.

ISO SMART

ISO 9001 is part of the ISO SMART initiative, a joint pilot program by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and ISO that will drive the digital evolution of international standards to address the needs of citizens, societies and economies. TC176 is positioning our committee to be a leader in the evolution of standards.

ISO House Style

In April 2023, ISO released an updated House Style guide to help committees, convenors, and editors in drafting updates. https://www.iso.org/ISO-house-style.html.  Ensuring ISO documents are clear, precise, and unambiguous are goals of the updated style. This will include formatting, grammar, ‘plain English’ and tone of the new standards and new editions. Please have a look at this document as the standards you work on get developed.

Thanks to you!

ISO/ TC176 is built on the strength of the members that volunteer time and expertise to support and improve quality management for organizations globally.

For all for your dedication and commitment, in pursuing excellence, we offer our sincere thanks.