ISO 9001:2000
ISO 9001:2000 is the international standard for quality management systems.
To keep ISO 9001:2000 certification we have to re-apply every 3 years.
We were the first Patent Office to achieve ISO 9001:2000 for our pre-grant patenting process in 2003.
We re-applied in February 2006, and extended our certification to cover our other patent search services.
- How we supported our application
We showed that we have a framework in place to efficiently grant patents that our customers can trust to be valid and provide high quality commercial patent searches. The framework includes our day-to-day operations, policies and business infrastructure. - Assessment
An external assessor spent five days interviewing staff at all levels, so that he had a good understanding of our operations. The assessment covered training, quality assurance, IT systems, workflow management and customer relations.
The assessor singled out "the dedication and enthusiasm of staff" and praised "the culture of continuous improvement".
What happens next?
We receive 6 monthly health checks from our external assessor to confirm that we continue to meet the ISO standard.
We carry out an internal review every 3 months to check everything is operating effectively and ensure that we are solving problems and preventing them from happening again. An ongoing internal audit programme supports this, ensuring we are doing things consistently and highlighting areas where we can do more.
