Concessions, customer processes & notification (IATF only)
Plain-language summary
Deviating from spec needs the customer's written word: concession/deviation approval before further processing, records of expiry and quantity, compliance with customer-specified processes, prompt customer notification when nonconforming product has shipped, and disposal rules that make unusable product truly unusable.
What the clause is really asking
Obtain customer concession before continuing to process nonconforming (or changed-from-approved) product, with defined expiry/quantities and proper identification; comply where customers prescribe their own NC processes; notify customers immediately when nonconforming product is shipped, followed by containment support; render scrap unusable before disposal (and meet any customer scrap authorisation requirements).
What auditors look for
Auditors check concession files (customer authorisation BEFORE use, expiry respected, quantities tracked), the shipped-nonconforming trail (notification timing!), and the scrap route: can rejected parts find their way back into the supply chain or grey market?
Typical evidence
Customer concession records with expiries; deviation tracking; customer notification records with timestamps; scrap mutilation/disposal evidence.
How to comply — recommendations
Rule one: no concession, no processing — system-block the part number until authorisation is filed. Rule two: shipped-bad means the customer hears it from you within hours, never from their line. Rule three: scrap gets mutilated or destroyed with evidence; whole automotive scandals have grown from skipped mutilation.
Common nonconformities
Product run under verbal 'concessions'; expired concessions still in use; customer learning of escapes from their own incoming inspection; scrap sold intact and resurfacing as service parts.
Related clauses
Builds on ISO 9001 8.7
In the book
Chapter 8 — Operation — Where the Product Is Won or Lost 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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