Why does ISO 9001 use 'continual' improvement vs 'continuous' improvement?

This issue was debated very strongly during the development of the 9000:2000 standards.

From a pure quality philosophy, we would encourage organizations to seek continuous improvement. However, it was recognized that not all organizations are able to demonstrate an incessant set of improvement actions, whereas they are able to demonstrate discrete improvement actions.

For this reason continual was used in preference to continuous improvment.

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The ISO website has a large section on ISO 9000, including statistics, transition information and market feedback.

SC2 is responsible for the development of the 9001 and 9004 standards. This website provides additional background and support on these standards.