After a months-long battle with Oxebridge founder Christopher Paris, resulting in a warning sent by Oxebridge to ANAB, the American Snow Contractors Association (ASCA) has posted details on how non-ASCA members can purchase copies of SN9001, it’s ISO 9001 sector specific standard for the snow and ice management industry.
Until this point, ASCA had not published any means for non-members to obtain the standard, only providing it for free to ASCA members. ANAB was in the process of formalizing its SN9001 accreditation program, and certification body Smithers Registrar has announced its intention to pursue ANAB accreditation, but under ISO 17011, ANAB cannot accredit any registrar that limits its services to members of any group or organization. If ANAB had accredited Smithers while ASCA was only offering SN9001 to members, it would have been in violation of that rule, and put its own role as an international accreditation body at risk.
Mr. Paris alerted ANAB of the problem, even as ASCA representatives claimed there was no wrongdoing. In response to the Oxebridge concern, ANAB advised Oxebridge it would take the problem up with ASCA, and this has resulted in the inevitable publication of purchasing details on the ASCA website.
The details remain potentially problematic for both ASCA and ANAB, however, as an argument can be made that ASCA is providing the standards at such a high cost for non-members, that this may be seen as a form of coercive recruiting. ASCA sells SN9001 for $35 to non-members, but the standard also requires that one purchase the “industry standards” which are sold for an additional $400, making the total purchase price for SN9001 $435.
In comparison with other industry standards, this is a staggering fee. ISO 9001:2008 currently sells for $142, and AS9100 — which includes the full text of ISO 9001 — only costs $61. The automotive standard ISO/TS 16949 is sold for $164, while BA9000, the body armor standard on which the SN9001 document was based (to the point that entire paragraphs are copied from it), is distributed for free.
This puts SN9001 as much as seven times the price of the world’s leading ISO 9001-based quality management system standards.
Other publishers do offer members a discount on standards, but at an entirely different scale. SAE gives its members a $6 discount on AS9100, while ANSI offers members a $33 discount on ISO/TS 16949 and a $29 discount on ISO 9001. ASCA gives its members the SN9001 standard documents the entire package free, accounting for a full $435 discount.
It may yet go to the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) to decide if this unheard-of pricing structure is enough to violate ISO 17011 by ostensibly forcing non-members into ASCA membership in order to avoid the high SN9001 penalty fee.
A representative with the Snow Management Industry Association (SIMA), which represents a much larger percentage of the snow and ice management industry, has indicated to Oxebridge that SIMA has no intention of supporting SN9001, bringing ASCA’s claims that their standard represents “the industry” into question.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
