JAB (Japan Accreditation Board) held a workshop aimed to settle problems around assessments of ISO9001: 2000 in Japan on July31 and August 1 in 2002 with participation of Japanese interested parties such as Japanese member of ISO/TC176, members of certification bodies, assessors and consultants.
The report of the workshop has been up on its web site since Mach 1 in 2003.

On the start of ISO9001: 2000 assessments, the most troubling has been said to be that Certification body called JQA employed the concept of process approach and PDCA management in its assessments.
For example, the body required describing “key processes “ for a company in its quality manual and identifying all processes in its quality management system. The body called the documentation was process approach!
Naturally it has made heavy documentation in companies, despite the intent of ISO9001: 2000 that decreased documentation requirements.

Therefore, the report of the workshop has become sever criticism for the body by JAB.

Recently one of my clients has received the documentation assessment by the body and found the body still did not respond the criticism.

The company is now ready to receive the final assessment with the report of JAB workshop. If an assessor of the body ignores the criticism written on the report, the company will bring the case to JAB.