Horti-Business Management (2+0)

ISO Standards

• The World Trade Organization’s agreement on technical barriers to trade emphasizes the vital role laid by International Standards in providing the technical foundation for global markets.
  
• When this is done, conflicts are minimized and agreements are more. On this occasion it may be worthwhile to review the development of the new version of ISO 9000 Standards for Quality Management Systems, which have now become so essential for acceptance of products and services at the International Level.
  
• The ISO 9000 Standards originally evolved for Quality Management Systems for manufacturing units. The same formulation was then extended to service and software fields. There has been a need felt over the years for a genetic system which is all comprehensive ad at the same time easily applicable to the business of the user, whether it be in manufacturing or service or software fields. Also in the meantime the environment management standards have come in.
  
• Taking into account all these and the fact that the ISO 9000 Standards were last revised in 1994, ISO’s Technical Committee TC 176 had taken up the task of bringing out “Year 2000” revision. This is expected to be announced at the end of year 2000, though by now the finalized draft has been circulated which contains all the essential features.