Although the standards originated in manufacturing, they are now employed across a wide range of other types of organizations. In fact, according to ISO in 2004, "service sectors now account by far for the highest number of ISO 9001:2000 certificates - about 31% of the total" - source: the ISO Survey 2004.
Some countries re-label ISO 9000 as a national standard. (e.g. IR 9000 in Iran and TS-ISO-9000 in Turkey).
ISO 9000 does not guarantee the quality of end products and services; rather, it certifies that consistent business processes are being applied.
Like all properly-written Standards (see BS 0:2005 A standard for standards.), ISO 9000 seeks to set criteria which achieve a goal and is not prescriptive as to methods.
The requirements come in Sections 4 to 8.
Section 4 is entitled General Requirements .
Section 5 is entitled Management Responsibility.
Section 6 is entitled Resource Management.
Section 7 is entitled Product Realisation.
Section 8 is entitled Measurement, analysis and improvement.
In each of these areas, ISO 9001: 2000 seeks to set out key requirements, which if met will ensure quality.