Newly Consolidated ISO Standard for Market Research/Insights/Data Analytics Published2019-02-13T15:41:27+00:00

CIRQ Primed to Certify Companies to Newly Updated & Streamlined ISO 20252 Global Standard

Washington, D.C., February 12, 2019 – CIRQ (the Certification Institute for Research Quality), an International Standards Organization (ISO) audit and certification body that is a subsidiary of the Insights Association, is pleased to announce that the updated and streamlined ISO Standard – ISO 20252:2019 Market, opinion and social research, including insights and data analytics — Vocabulary and service requirements – has officially been published. It replaces all three of the older ISO 20252, ISO 26362 and ISO 19731 standards.

Delegates from marketing research standards organizations from around the world, including representatives from the Insights Association, have worked for more than three years to streamline and update ISO 20252:2012 with needed revisions and combination with ISO 26362:2009 (Access panel standard) and ISO 19731 (Digital analytics and web analyses) into this more robust and comprehensive marketing research requirements document.

Benefits of the new standard include improved relevance to current market research stakeholder needs, as well as clarity and conciseness by removing duplicative clauses and subclauses from 26362 and the previous version of 20252. It also reflects new data practices, including ethical requirements, and additional updated clauses on data management security that align with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

“The new ISO 20252 standard represents a milestone for the insights industry, providing marked operational benefits to certified companies. They are a special class within the industry, operating at the highest levels. We have been deeply involved in its creation and our team of auditors are fully trained to the new standard,” said David W. Almy, Insights Association CEO.

“CIRQ is now even better positioned as the one-stop certification body to help leading insights companies certify their operations through the consolidated ISO 20252 as well as the ISO 27001 information security standard,” said Craig Overpeck, CEO of BioInformatics Inc. and board chair of CIRQ.

The new standard includes the mandatory requirements from 20252:2012 and 26362:2009, which are now retired; it will include ISO 19731 research data analytics. All CIRQ certification clients will have until December 2020 to transition to and audit under the new standard.

Questions about this new standard are encouraged. For answers, please contact Juliana Wood, Director of Certifications at CIRQ, at (202) 800-2545.

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The Insights Association
Empowering Intelligent Business Decisions

As the leading voice, resource and network of the marketing research and data analytics community, the Insights Association empowers intelligent business decisions. All our proceeds are invested in advocacy, education, certification and direct support to enable our members to thrive in an evolving industry and drive business impact.
Visit www.insightsassociation.org for more information.

CIRQ (the Certification Institute for Research Quality), a subsidiary of the Insights Association, was established in 2009 to provide assessment and certification services to marketing research, insights and data analytics firms seeking certification to ISO and other industry standards. A 501(c)(6) non-profit entity, CIRQ is in compliance with all ISO requirements for certification bodies and is managed with oversight from an independent Board of Directors and an annual review by external authorities on ISO requirements.

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