Other industries followed, and the ISO 9000 standard was incorporated into the regulatory requirements of the European Union. Now, many U.S. agencies are integrating ISO 9000 into their quality requirements and more and more companies are passing the requirements through to their suppliers. Based on the trend toward international standards and the emphasis the international community has placed on environmental matters, it appears that ISO 14000 will not only follow the path of ISO 9000 but that it will do so more rapidly. Fortune magazine recently reported that while only 5 percent of businesses used international standards versus corporate or national standards in 1970, fully 50 percent are expected to do so by 1995. Technology, such as telecommunications, has made our world a great deal smaller than it used to be.
International commerce is now nearly as common as interstate commerce.
We cannot avoid the philosophies and expectations of foreign markets any more than they can avoid ours. If we wish to, at a minimum, maintain our market position, and hopefully continue to improve it, we need to be sensitive to foreign interests. One must also be aware of the indirect effects. Even if you do not market directly overseas, selling to another vendor who does may still require you to comply, as a pass-through requirement. Another reason to address ISO 14000 now is the growing public awareness of environmental performance.