AS9120 is the quality management standard for aerospace, space and defence distributors, the businesses that buy, store and resell parts without altering them. Like AS9100, it is built on ISO 9001 with additional clauses covering traceability, control of records, and prevention of counterfeit or unapproved parts.
Certification / Accreditation
AS 9120 Aerospace distributors
At its core, it recognises that a distributor’s risks are different from a manufacturer’s: the job is to move genuine parts safely through the supply chain, not to design or produce them. The current edition is Revision B (2016), based on ISO 9001:2015, and is expected to be rebranded IA9120 in the same wave of updates affecting AS9100, timed to the ISO 9001:2026 revision.
Who it’s for and what’s involved
Relevant if you are:
Achieving certification involves:
How Q! supports certification
Built for distributors, not manufacturers
AS9120 strips out the design and production clauses that don’t apply to a distributor and replaces them with what actually matters: traceability, record control, and stopping counterfeit parts entering the supply chain. We make sure your system reflects what a distributor genuinely does, rather than borrowing manufacturing-style processes that don’t fit your business.
You distribute parts, you don’t make them. Your QMS should reflect that, not borrow a manufacturer’s template.
Mini FAQs
AS9100 is for organisations that design, develop or manufacture aerospace products; AS9120 is for distributors who buy and resell parts without altering them. AS9120 drops the design and production-specific clauses that don’t apply to a distributor and adds extra weight to traceability, record control and counterfeit parts prevention instead.
No, splitting and repackaging parts is explicitly covered under AS9120, not AS9100. The line is whether you alter the parts themselves or anything that affects their characteristics or conformity. If you are not doing that, distributor-level certification is the right fit.
AS9120 is expected to follow AS9100 into a rebrand as IA9120, aligned with the International Aerospace Quality Group’s move to a single global standard and timed to the ISO 9001:2026 revision. Detail is still emerging, so there’s no need to delay current certification work while waiting for it.
Very. As a distributor, you are often the point in the supply chain most exposed to counterfeit or fraudulent parts entering circulation, so AS9120 requires defined processes for supplier approval, verification of purchased product, and quarantine and reporting of anything suspect. AS6081 provides much more detailed testing and inspection guidance if this is a significant part of your risk profile.
Not necessarily, but the two work well together if counterfeit risk is material to your business. AS9120 sets the quality management framework; AS6081 gives distributors of electronic parts specifically far more detailed practices for detecting and handling suspect counterfeit product.
Relevant case studies
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