Conformity & corrective action authority (IATF only)
Plain-language summary
The people responsible for product conformity must have the power to stop shipment and stop production to contain a problem — on every shift — and nonconforming product must not move without proper disposition.
What the clause is really asking
Authority must sit where the product is: immediate containment when something goes wrong, personnel with stop authority identified on all shifts (including nights and weekends), and prompt information flow to those responsible for corrective action. Production may only resume, and product only ship, once conformity is restored or formally concessioned.
What auditors look for
Auditors love the night-shift question: 'It is 02:00 and you find suspect product — who stops the line, and who do you call?' They check stop-ship/stop-production records, containment timing on recent incidents, and whether anything shipped while suspect.
Typical evidence
Shift-by-shift authority matrix; stop-ship/containment records; escalation procedure with after-hours contacts; concession records.
How to comply — recommendations
Publish a simple per-shift authority board at the line: who can stop, who to phone. Drill it once a year like a fire drill. Log every stop decision — a record of stopping production is evidence of a working system, not a failure.
Common nonconformities
No one on night shift with stop authority; quality 'advises' but production overrules and ships; containment started hours after detection; suspect stock quarantined on paper but physically still in the despatch lane.
Related clauses
Builds on ISO 9001 5.3 / 8.7
In the book
Chapter 5 — Leadership — The Desk Where Quality Lives treats this clause family in full: what it is really asking, what auditors look for, the evidence that satisfies, how to make it work on a real floor, and where companies stumble. This IATF requirement is covered in the Automotive Edition, in the same six blocks as the ISO clause around it.
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