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Understanding Customer, Statutory, and Regulatory Requirements

01 June 2020
A critical component of an effective Quality Management System (QMS) is understanding requirements to include applicable customer, statutory and regulatory requirements. 

Only by understanding these requirements can an organization maintain focus and achieve high levels of customer satisfaction. Organizations need to ensure that these requirements are not only identified but that they ensure compliance with them. 
 
The newly published IAQG Aviation Correlation Matrix maps Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) airworthiness requirements to the AS9100 standard. Being intimately familiar with this matrix is critical to understanding regulatory requirements (see www.iaqg.org under Standards and 9100 or find them at the following links).

This Aerospace, Space and Defense Correlation Matrix shows relationships between aviation airworthiness regulatory requirements and AS9100 clauses. The AS9100 standard does not meet all the requirements because some are applicable only to commercial aviation, so it is still the organization’s responsibility to understand how they meet these requirements.
 
It is highly recommended that organizations identify, understand, and ensure customer, statutory, and regulatory compliance is being met and addressed within their Aerospace Quality Management System (AQMS) by performing effective internal audits and evaluating these requirements. 

NQA can partner with your organization to evaluate the ability of your AQMS to meet these requirements while also verifying the effectiveness of your internal audit processes.
 
L.L. “Buddy” Cressionnie has industry leadership positions of Americas Aerospace Quality System Committee (AAQSC) chair and AAQSC leader of requirements, projects and AS9100. He is active in standards development as a liaison member to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee (TC) 176, including writing ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 9004:2018, and participating in the ISO 9001 Interpretations Committee.