European Organization for Quality

The European Organization for Quality (EOQ) is an autonomous, non-profit making association under Belgian law, having its legal office in Brussels. EOQ is the European interdisciplinary organization striving for effective improvement in the sphere of quality management as the coordinating body and catalyst of its National Representative Organizations (NR's). EOQ's Network comprises National Representative, Associated, Affiliated members’ and partners’ organizations from 40 countries, reaching up to 70,000 members and 500,000 companies linked to its members.

History

The EOQ (at that time called European Organization for Quality Control - EOQC) was established in 1956 and the founding organizations came from five western European Countries: France, Italy, Western Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The EOQ spread its roots into other western European countries, before establishing links with central and eastern European countries in what was then seen as a Communist bloc. More recently EOQ has widened its activities to include the countries of the southern and eastern Mediterranean region. EOQ Historical Data - Initiated Projects

EOQ competence certification

EOQ's goal is to achieve mutual recognition of qualifications within Europe hence, the registration of EOQ certified professionals. EOQ supports all common activities, with respect to the qualification and registration/certification of EOQ certified professionals under the EOQ Harmonized Scheme for the Registration of Personnel (in the field of quality, environment, health and safety, risk, corporate social responsibility and specific sectors), the most successful product of EOQ. EOQ established this scheme, called EOQ's Personnel Registration Scheme, as a part of its mission to strengthen Europe's economic system by promoting improvement in all aspects of quality - from developments in quality systems management through to the use of quality as a competitive market force, by anticipating customer needs and creating customer confidence. For this purpose, the EOQ has formed a special unit, the EOQ Personnel Registration Unit (EOQ-PRU), who acts both as a clearing body and as a body for the recognition/certification and acceptance of EOQ certified professionals and deals with:

EOQ promotes the mutual recognition and acceptance of registrations/certificates within the framework of the scheme, actually based on mutual recognition through the European cooperation for Accreditation (EA), granted by its recognized members called EOQ-PRU Agents. Competence certificates based on EOQ normative documents have an outstanding reputation and are objective proof of competence due to the worldwide accepted processes of assessment, examination, certification and re-certification used in accordance with the ISO/IEC 17024 standard's requirements. Today EOQ counts more than 70,000 EOQ competence certificates holders. EOQ certificates have been commended for openness, transparency and credibility.

EOQ competence certifications

EOQ ProfessionEOQ CodeCertificate validity (years)
Quality OperatorQO5
Quality AssistantQAS5
Quality Professional (only for re-certification)QP5
Quality Management TechnicianQMT3
Quality Management Technician JuniorQMT Junior6
Quality Management Representative (start 2013)QMR3
Quality Systems Manager (valid until 2015)QSM3
Quality Manager (start 2013)QM3
Quality Systems Manager JuniorQSM Junior6
Quality AuditorQA3
Quality Lead Auditor (start 2013)QLA3
Quality Auditor JuniorQA Junior6
Environmental Systems ManagerESM3
Environmental Systems Manager JuniorESM Junior6
Environmental AuditorESA3
Environmental Auditor JuniorESA Junior6
Occupational Health and Safety Systems ManagerOHSSM3
Occupational Health and Safety Systems Manager JuniorOHSSM Junior6
Occupational Health and Safety Systems AuditorOHSSA3
Occupational Health and Safety Systems Auditor JuniorOHSSA Junior6
Risk ManagerRM3
TQM AssessorTQMA3
TQM LeaderTQML3
CSR & Sustainability ManagerCSRM3
CSR & Sustainability AssessorCSRA3
Management System ConsultantMSC3
Management System Senior ConsultantMSSC3
Quality Systems Manager in HealthcareQSMH3
Food Safety System ManagerFSM3
Food & Safety AuditorFSA3
Information Security Management System ManagerISMSM3
Information Security Management System AuditorISMSA3
Laboratory Quality Assurance ManagerLQAM3
Laboratory AssessorLA3
Process ManagerPSM3

References

  1. ↑ "ISO 9001 Quality management". www.iso.org. September 2021.
  2. ↑ "New ISO 19011 standard adds value to management system audits". iso.org.
  3. ↑ "ISO 14001 Environmental Management". www.iso.org. 20 January 2023.
  4. ↑ "ISO 31000 Risk management". www.iso.org. 10 December 2021.
  5. ↑ "ISO 22000 Food safety management". www.iso.org. 7 June 2022.