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QualityTerm

Non-conformity

A non-conformity (afwijking) is a situation in which something does not meet a requirement, such as a standard, procedure, legal requirement, customer agreement or specification. Also called NC.

Explanation

A non-conformity can turn up anywhere: a product that does not meet the specification, an employee who does not follow a procedure, an expired inspection, a missing document or a finding from an audit. It is a gap between what should be and what is.

You record the non-conformity and first take an immediate measure (the correction) to limit the damage. Then you investigate the cause and assess whether a corrective action is needed so it does not come back. Many schemes grade non-conformities by severity; the terms differ per scheme, so use the classification of your certifier.

Non-conformities are not shameful but valuable information. An organisation without any often is not looking closely. An incident is about safety, damage or environment, a non-conformity about not meeting a requirement. In practice the two overlap and many organisations record them in the same system.

Example from practice

During goods receipt it turns out that part of the delivery has a different size than ordered. The non-conformity is recorded, the batch blocked, the supplier contacted and the cause investigated.

© 2026 BrydgeOne. General information, not legal or other professional advice. No rights can be derived from this explanation.

In BrydgeOne

Where you work with Non-conformity

Quality reportsLog nonconformities and complaints in a structured way. AuditsPlan internal audits and log findings. ActionsFollow up corrective and preventive actions. ISO 9001Quality
Knowledge base

Keep reading

CAPA: how to follow up corrective and preventive actions effectivelyCAPA stands for Corrective and Preventive Action. It is how you solve a problem for good and stop it from coming back. This article walks through the route from report to root cause, action and effectiveness check. Handling complaints: a fixed procedure from receipt to feedbackHandling complaints works better with a fixed procedure than with good intentions alone. When everyone knows what happens after the first report, the customer gets an answer sooner and your organisation learns from every complaint. This is what such a procedure looks like. Carrying out an internal audit: step-by-step plan and checklistAn internal audit tests whether your management system does what you agreed and whether it works. With a fixed plan it becomes a source of improvement rather than a paper exercise. This article walks through the seven steps, with a checklist. Registering and handling a nonconformity: steps and an NCR exampleA nonconformity is a situation in which a requirement is not met, such as a specification, a procedure, a legal requirement or a customer agreement. You record it in an NCR (nonconformity report), limit the damage straight away, find the cause, take a corrective action and close it only once the effect has been checked. Below are the steps, the fields of a good NCR form and a worked example.
Glossary

See also

CAPACorrective and Preventive ActionCorrective actionCorrective actionRoot cause analysisRoot cause analysisInternal auditInternal auditIncidentIncidentNCR (non-conformity report)Non-conformity (NCR, non-conformity report)

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