A registrar recently informed a local company that a "stage 1" assessment was required before they could be scheduled for an ISO 9001 registration audit.

I know that stage 1 assessments were required for TS16949 but have never heard of it being required for ISO9001.
Can anyone clarify?
Thanks

A registrar recently informed a local company that a "stage 1" assessment was required before they could be scheduled for an ISO 9001 registration audit.

I know that stage 1 assessments were required for TS16949 but have never heard of it being required for ISO9001.
Can anyone clarify?
ThanksYes, with the advent of ISO/IEC 17021:2006, the certification process now mandates a Stage 1 audit. All traditionally accredited CB's have to follow 17021, now.

Thanks for the quick response!!

To add to Sidney's post, the 2 stages were always carried out but were usually called other names such as document/desktop review for Stage 1 and conformance/compliance audit for Stage 2. Some CB's did the document review off-site but it was still done.

Stage 1 audit is now supposed to go beyond review of the documentation and be a readiness-status check of the system applying for certification.

Interestingly, the EMS certification process for ISO 14001 had always required a stage 1, on-site audit. As required in the old ISO/IEC guide 66.

I also find it a little ironic.

Back in the days (1990) when I was first a CB auditor, it was so much more effective to do the first part of the audit - planning - on site. There are so may benefits to doing it that way, instead of just a review of documents (boring!).

I guess the clients who didn't want to pay for two trips got the result they paid for..........

Stage 1 audit is now supposed to go beyond review of the documentation and be a readiness-status check of the system applying for certification.

Interestingly, the EMS certification process for ISO 14001 had always required a stage 1, on-site audit. As required in the old ISO/IEC guide 66.

Quite right Sidney - I must admit that I preferred the EMS approach and I was taught (many years ago) to do the doc review in that style from the off. It usually meant fewer problems at the conformance audit.