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Many questions come up when implementing the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 for your Quality
Management System (QMS), and while many are easy to answer, some are not. One question
that can come up for smaller organizations that have separate locations is: “Can I certify more
than one legal entity under one ISO 9001 certification?” The answer to this is yes; but,
determining and identifying the QMS scope is key.
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This does not necessarily mean that you can just get together with your neighboring company and
create one QMS for certification. The QMS rules and policies need to be applicable to all the
companies defined in the QMS scope, and if your companies are too different, this may not be
feasible. This approach of using one QMS certification for companies that are different legal
entities is only common when the companies are related.
For instance, you might have one company that is creating a product, which has a sibling
company that provides transportation services. The choice was made that the transportation
company would be incorporated under a separate legal name in order to more easily provide
transportation services for not only the production company, but also other companies as well.
These two companies could fall under the same scope if the choice was made for the QMS
policies and rules that were applicable for both. However, the scope must include both locations,
as well as descriptions of the product and the transportation services offered to customers.
For more information on defining the scope of the QMS, see this article: How to define the
scope of the QMS according to ISO 9001:2015.
Of course, nothing is perfect, and there can be some drawbacks to this approach. By including
more than one legal entity, you need to include all locations, products, and services of all entities
in your scope. By doing so, it is possible that the scope of your QMS, which will be given to your
customers and interested parties, will become confusing and complex. If this will confuse
customers as to what your products and services are, then think about separating the Quality
Management Systems of the two companies.
It is important to note that not every certification body will allow this practice, so you should check
with your certification body if they are willing to proceed with your certification with a scope that
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includes more than one legal entity. If they are not willing to do this, you will need to either pursue
separate certifications, or find a different certification body who will allow this. Certification bodies
need to align with their accreditation rules, so it is also possible that this could change in the
future.
To help you choose the most suitable certification body, download this free List of questions to
ask an ISO 9001 certification body.
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Iciar Gallo
ISO 9001 Expert,
Advisera
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