The Implications of ISO 9000 and the European Community on the U.S. Construction Industry.

World is becoming smaller and more competitive. The global construction market is becoming more integrated. The European Community and many other countries are turning to ISO 9000 Quality Management and Assurance standard for the control of products and services into their markets. The European Community is in the process of developing of a single integrated market and using the development of harmonized standards and codes to implement this goal. Part of this standardization process is the development of Directives that will provide general guidance on a product/services safety environmental capability, and personal protection. These directives are then turned over to two, standard organizations that develop detailed standards. In the development of the Product Liability and Safety directives the European Community has required the use of a third party evaluation of a company quality management system based on the ISO 9000 series. The rest of the world is watching to see the success of this system.