The International Railway Industry Standard (IRIS) is an internationally recognized management system standard specific to the railway industry. It is based on the ISO 9001 structure but stipulates additional, railway-specific requirements for business management systems.
In 2005, the IRIS Group was established as a UNIFE Group with the goal of securing higher quality in the railway industry. All certification bodies shall have an accreditation in accordance with ISO/IEC 17021:2015 and an IRIS approval. IRIS is an initiative led by the Association of European Railway Industries (UNIFE).
Equipment manufacturers applying for an IRIS Certificate must obtain it from an independent certification body. The flow of activities towards IRIS certifications is as follows:
- Organization registers for membership at the UNIFE portal
- compilation of the information questionnaire
- pre-audits to verify potential gaps in compliance with the IRIS standard
- readiness review audits to verify compliance with IRIS pre-requisites
- certification audit
- issue of the certification
- annual supervision audits
- recertification audit (after three years).