DQS Holding GmbH based in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

is the

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

of the worldwide DQS Group. The group provides assessments and

certifications Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

management systems A management system is a set of policies, processes and procedures used by an organization to ensure that it can fulfill the tasks required to achieve its objectives. These objectives cover many aspects of the organization's operations (includi ...

and processes of any type.

History

DQS was founded in 1985 in Berlin and was the first German certification body.Wolfgang Hansen: ''Zertifizierung und Akkreditierung von Produkten und Leistungen der Wirtschaft'', Carl Hanser Verlag München Wien, 1993, p. 155, .Walter Masing: ''Handbuch der Qualitätssicherung'', Carl Hanser Verlag, 2nd ed., 1988, p. 972, . The aim of the founding partners, DGQ ( German Society for Quality) and

DIN DIN or Din or din may refer to: People and language * Din (name), people with the name * Dīn, an Arabic word with three general senses: judgment, custom, and religion from which the name originates * Dinka language (ISO 639 code: din), spoken ...

(German Institute for Standardization), was mainly to promote the German economy. The foundation overlapped with the publication of the first drafts of the

ISO 9000 The ISO 9000 family is a set of international standards for Quality (business), quality management systems. It was developed in March 1987 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations en ...

series of standards, which also include the most important quality standard worldwide today:

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of international standards for quality management systems. It was developed in March 1987 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ensure that they meet ...

. In 1986 DQS became the first certification body in Germany to issue a certificate according to ISO 9001.Fiorenzo Franceschini, Maurizio Galetto, and Giovanni Gianni: ''A new forecasting model for the diffusion of ISO 9000 standard certifications in European countries'', International Journal of Quality & Riliability Management, ''21'' (2004) p. 32–50. After the merger of DQS with the Management Systems Solutions (MSS) division of the American product certification body Underwriters Laboratories Inc. in March 2008, DQS-UL Group is currently one of the world's largest system certification bodies. Since June 2015 the company changed its name to DQS Group.

Corporate Organization

DQS Holding GmbH has more than 85 offices in over 60

countries A country is a distinct part of the Earth, world, such as a state (polity), state, nation, or other polity, political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, List of states with limited r ...

. DQS Group currently has about 20,000 certified customers across almost all industries with approximately 65,000 certified locations in over 130 countries. The concern employs 814 people and commands 2,500

auditors An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon." Auditing al ...

in 2019 (annual average). Among the largest companies within the group are DQS India.(Bangalore), DQS Inc. (USA), DQS do Brasil Ltd., DQS Japan Inc., DQS Medizinprodukte GmbH (Medical Devices), DQS CFS (sustainability) and DQS GmbH (all Germany). DQS India Headquartered in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Main and with a local offices in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, DQS India is the largest subsidiary of DQS Holding GmbH. DQS GmbH in Germany Headquartered in Frankfurt am Main and with a local offices in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, DQS GmbH is the largest subsidiary of DQS Holding GmbH.

Service spectrum

The group’s services include cross-industry assessments to customer or industry-specific requirements and certifications to national and international standards and specifications. *

(

Quality Quality may refer to: Concepts *Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property *Quality (physics), in response theory *Energy quality, used in various science discipli ...

) *

ISO 14001 The ISO 14000 family is a set of international standards for Natural environment, environment management systems. It was developed in March 1996 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ...

( Environment) *

ISO 45001 ISO 45001 is an international standard for occupational health and safety management systems. It was developed in March 2018 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of the standard is the reduction of occupational injuries a ...

( Workplace safety) *

IATF 16949 International Automotive Task Force 16949 (IATF 16949) is an international standard for automotive management systems that is a widely adopted and standardized quality management system for the automotive sector. It was released in 1999 by Inter ...

( Automotive) *

ISO 22301 ISO 22301 is an international standard for business continuity management systems. It was developed in March 2012 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of the standard is to specify requirements to plan, establish, implement, ...

(

Business Continuity Business continuity may be defined as "the capability of an organization to continue the delivery of products or services at pre-defined acceptable levels following a disruptive incident", and business continuity planning (or business continuity ...

) *

ISO 27001 ISO/IEC 27001 is an information security standard. It specifies the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an information security management system (ISMS). Organizations with an ISMS that meet the st ...

(

Information security Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data ...

) *

ISO 28000 ISO 28000:2022, ''Security and resilience – Security management systems – Requirements'', is a management system standard published by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that specifies requirements for a security management s ...

(Security Management System for the Supply Chain) *

ISO 37001 ISO 37001 ''Anti-bribery management systems - Requirements'' with guidance for use, is a management system standard published by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2016. As the title suggests, this standard sets out the req ...

(Anti-Bribery Management Systems) *

ISO 50001 ISO 50001 Energy management systems - Requirements with guidance for use, is an international standard created by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It supports organizations in all sectors to use energy more efficiently thro ...

(

Energy management Energy management includes planning and operation of energy production and energy consumption units as well as energy distribution and storage. Energy management is performed via Energy Management Systems (EMS), which are designed with hardware ...

) *

ISO 13485 ISO 13485 ''Medical devices -- Quality management systems -- Requirements for regulatory purposes'' is a voluntary standard, published by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for the first time in 1996, and contains a comprehensive ...

(Medical Device certification) * ISO/TS 22163:2017/IRIS (Rail sector) * EN 9100:2018 series (Aerospace) * International Featured Standard (IFS) * FSSC 22000 * GRI In addition, the group also offers assessments in the areas of Risk Management Systems,

Sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

, Data Privacy, Business Excellence, Health and

Social Services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

, and Integrated Management System.

Network

DQS is a charter and full member of the international certification network IQNet Association which was founded in 1990. The main objective of the currently approx. 40-member global network is the mutual recognition of certificates issued by the member companies. Dr Sied Sadek, former Managing Director of DQS CFS and DQS Middle East, who is now the Managing Director o
SQS Deutschland GmbH
pointed out in an interview to share DQS's expertise in the field of CSR reporting and DQS's understanding of the necessity to do so sensitive to the regional and cultural context, in the development process of the Islamic Reporting Initiative (IRI).

References

{{authority control Certification marks Environmental certification marks Quality management Standards organisations in Germany Multinational companies Companies based in Frankfurt Companies established in 1985 1985 establishments in West Germany