Releasing Products and Services Under ISO 9001 Quality Controls
ISO 9001 Clause 8.6
This clause requires the organisation to ensure that product and service requirements have been met, by implementing planned arrangements.
What Does ISO 9001 Clause 8.6 Require?
Clause 8.6 of ISO 9001:2015 requires the organisation to implement planned arrangements to verify that product and service requirements have been met before release. Release must not proceed until the planned arrangements have been satisfactorily completed - unless specifically approved by a relevant authority or by the customer.
Documented information must be retained as evidence of release. This must include evidence of conformity with the acceptance criteria and traceability to the person who authorised the release.
What This Means in Practice
The specific form of the release process depends entirely on the nature of the organisation's products and services. For a manufacturer, it might be a final inspection before dispatch, with a dated inspection record. For a service organisation, it might be a completion record or a project closure review. For a software provider, it might be a testing and approval process before deployment. The standard does not prescribe the format - it requires that there is a defined and documented process, that it is consistently applied, and that records are kept.
Where release is authorised by a customer or a relevant authority before planned arrangements are complete - for example, where urgent delivery is required - this must be approved and documented, with traceability to whoever granted the concession.
For Clause 8.6, I'll look for evidence that there is a defined point at which products or services are checked against requirements before being released to the customer, and that this is documented. I'm looking for two things: evidence that the acceptance criteria were met, and the name of the person who authorised release. In a manufacturing context, a dispatch record or inspection sheet with the authorising person named covers both. In a service context, a job completion form or project sign-off achieves the same thing. Where I find products have been shipped or services completed without any release record, that is a nonconformity.
A job card, dispatch note, completion certificate or inspection record - whatever is appropriate to the nature of the organisation's outputs - provides the documented evidence required by Clause 8.6. The key is that the record shows what was checked, that it was found to be conforming, and who approved release. For organisations with simple, standardised outputs this can be a simple form. For more complex or bespoke outputs, the record will need to capture more detail about the specific acceptance criteria that were applied.
Before you send something to a customer - whether it's a product or a completed service - check it meets the requirements and record that you did so. That is all Clause 8.6 is asking. A job card, a dispatch sheet, a completion record - whatever fits your business. Make sure it shows what was approved and who approved it, and keep a copy. Simple and practical for almost any organisation.
Practical Compliance Guidance
To comply with Clause 8.6, the organisation needs a defined release process with documented evidence that acceptance criteria were met and a record of who authorised release.
| alphaZ document | How it supports Clause 8.6 |
|---|---|
| ISO 9001 Management System Toolkit | The complete toolkit including job card, inspection records and all documents supporting the product and service release process. |
| F-Q57 Job Card | Provides a structured record for job completion and release, capturing the work done, acceptance criteria checked and authorised by the responsible person. |
Note - all the above files can be downloaded with an alphaZ subscription
