Since 1993, the number of ISO 9000 quality management system certificates-obtained by firms in both Poland and elsewhere-has grown by leaps and bounds. Not much is being said, however, about the reverse process involving companies losing their certificates.
This trend has intensified in recent years.

Prior to 1997, the ISO Central Secretariat, which surveys the number of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 Quality Assurance Standard certificates on a global scale, did not quote data on lost certificates. The first ever data available in this area applied to the end of December 1997. However, only data as of the end of 1998 shed light on the reasons behind the loss of certificates.

Firms lose their certificates due to a number of reasons. The most frequent is the decision not to renew. In 2000, the total number of such cases amounted to 11,417. Firms do not decide to have their certificates renewed because their financial condition has deteriorated, and renewing the certificate carries a price tag.

The possession of the certificate may not have brought about the expected results: the firm's competitiveness on the market has not increased, and the firm has not attracted new customers. Monopolies, on the other hand, believe they do not need to improve their market competitiveness.

Another reason for a firm losing the certificate is the certification audit's negative result. This occurs when the firm, for either objective or subjective reasons, was unable to eliminate irregularities and introduce corrections. In 2000, the number of such cases reported in the world was 2,168.

The next reason is a firm ending its activity, by either going bankrupt or being purchased in whole or in part, leading to the loss of its legal status. In 2000, there were 1,391 such cases all over the world.

Some firms choose to change the certification organization. This takes place most often when the market situation has changed and a certificate of another organization is more valued, or even required, by the firm's patrons or the strategic customer. A total of 910 such cases were reported in the world in 2000.

Table 1 presents the number of lost ISO 9000 certificates, by reason of the loss, in 14 selected countries with the largest number of certificates lost, and additionally in Poland.

Talks with selected certification organizations, including PCBC-Poland, KEMA-the Netherlands, BSI-Great Britain, BVQI-Great Britain, DQS-Germany, DNV-Norway and LRQA-Great Britain, reveal that no case of a certificate having been taken away due to the negative result of a certification audit occurred on the Polish market. If certain irregularities were registered during certificate renewal, the firms concerned were able to remove them through correcting actions. But in Poland cases were reported of firms deciding not to renew the certificate due to financial reasons, the changing of sector, or ending activity (bankruptcy, merger with another firm or acquisition). The talks with the certification organizations also indicate that the number of certificates lost due to firms having ended activity was actually higher than the number quoted by the ISO Central Secretariat ( Table 1). The discrepancy may have resulted from the fact that the certification organizations referred to the years 2001 and 2002, while Table 1 gives data for 1998-2000.

The Institute of Organization and Management in Industry (IOZP) ORGMASZ has run since 1992 the largest and most reliable National Register of Certificates, Certification Organizations and Certified Firms. Recently the institute has also undertaken to register certificates lost by firms.

Table 2 shows data on both held and lost ISO 9000 certificates in 14 countries plus Poland in 1998-2000, by the highest proportion of the certificates lost in 2000.


The table reveals that countries with the largest number of certificates in 2000 reported a small proportion of certificates lost. To conclude, the number of lost certificates is not directly related to the number of certificates in possession.

Table 3
Even though the proportion of lost ISO 9000 certificates is growing, as shown in Table 3, the loss of certificates by companies remains a marginal trend.

Maria Kobla

Orgmasz The Institute of Organozation and Management in Indistry