We have several off-site design centers are part of our corporation. Some centers range from a staff of 2 people up to 60). My background is ISO/TS 16949 and there are specific IATF (International Automotive Task Force) rules for managing both on site and remote design functions within our QMS (internal and registrar annual audits and inclusion as a remote location on our ISO/TS 16949 certification). Note: Design centers cannot be ISO/TS 16949 registered, but can maintain ISO 9001 registration.
I'm not familiar with ISO's stance/rules for this same situation if our corporate site maintains ISO 9001 certification. I assume that the off-site design centers used by this site need to be compliant to ISO 9001 (not necessarily certified to ISO 9001), therefore, internal audits need to be conducted. My questions come in with the ISO 9001 registration audits and whether the same requirements we see with ISO/TS 16949 apply in the ISO 9001 world.
From a registration stance, if the design function is indeed a remote location, would the registrar need to audit the location as an extension of the site's ISO audit (and if successful, the design function could be listed on the sites' ISO 9001 certification as a remote location)?