The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has raised the price for the FDIS version of ISO 9001:2015 from $88 to $179, apparently after BSI began selling the draft standard at a higher price. The move has raised questions within ISO circles as to whether this constitutes a form of price-fixing, pushed on the US and other nations by the UK.
Oxebridge purchased the FDIS on June 10th for a price of $88, as evidenced by this copy of the receipt:
Currently, however, the ANSI webstore lists the same product at a price point of $179, nearly doubling the price for US customers.
BSI launched its sale of the FDIS at a price point of £149.00 ($233 US) . The BSI offer includes delivery of the final IS version of ISO 9001:2015 when it is finalized. This hints at the strength of BSI in establishing market prices for products, regardless of the region in which they are sold. Currently, BSI dominates nearly every aspect of ISO standardization, from key secretariat positions in critical Technical Committees, to the Secretariat of ISO itself.
The pricing may be moot, since the FDIS had been leaked online within hours of its release. Many companies have balked at paying such a high price for a temporary standard that will be replaced in just a few months.
Neither BSI or ANSI responded to requests for a clarification on the price increase.
(Correction: an earlier version of this article indicated that BSI had launched its sale of the FDIS “weeks” after ANSI; this appears to have been incorrect.)
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
