The JTCG (Joint Technical Coordination Group) on the management system standards (MSS) met last November in Salvador de Bahia. I went on behalf of TC46/SC11 responsible for ISO 30300.

Once published in the new ISO Directives (Annex SL) the structure, common definitions and text which all MSS shall implement, the group has focused on solving the questions received and planning the work to be done.

The JTCG sent a questionnaire to the relevant committees to collect the status of projects to adapt to the new Annex SL ISO procedures.

In addition to the "early adopters", including the ISO 30301, now is the turn of adaptations and changes in the existing standards. The process produces many questions and resistance to change. The more advanced committees are:

• ISO 27001, have done all the work and have sent a report to the TMB for authorizing them some deviations from the original text.
• ISO 14001, have begun preliminary work and have a number of doubts and questions discussed in the meeting
• ISO 50001, in very early stage have also some basic questionsto be solved

The ISO 30301was published before the final version that appears in Annex SL, so it is 90% alligned. In the next review to be completed in 2015 will be a new version 100% adapted.

The harmonization process is unstoppable though is still some way to go...