ISO 29990 certification (learning services — withdrawn standard)
Historical: the first international standard dedicated to learning-service providers outside formal education, it has been withdrawn and replaced by the ISO 21001 / ISO 29993 pair.
Issued by: Accredited certification bodies (standard published by ISO in 2010, now withdrawn)
Concerned training providers seeking international recognition of their management system and services.
What this scheme covers
- C.1A hybrid framework covering both service requirements (design, delivery, assessment) and the provider's management system.
- C.2In France, ISO 29990 certification was among the quality marks accepted at the time of the 2015 quality decree and the CNEFOP lists.
The link with Qualiopi
Superseded twice over: in standardisation, its two components were taken over by ISO 21001 (management system) and ISO 29993 (service requirements); for French funding, the multiple-quality-marks logic was replaced by the single Qualiopi certification.
The process, summarised
- 1.No new certification possible: interested providers turn to ISO 21001, ISO 29993 and, for French funding, Qualiopi.
FAQ — ISO 29990
+Why was ISO 29990 withdrawn?
Its hybrid scope was clarified into two separate standards: ISO 21001 for educational organisations' management systems and ISO 29993 for service requirements.
+Does an ISO 29990 certificate still hold value?
No: with the standard withdrawn, certificates are no longer renewed. Affected providers have generally migrated to ISO 21001 or ISO 29993.
+Did ISO 29990 grant access to French funding?
In the CNEFOP-list era it was among the quality marks recognised by some funders; since 2022, only Qualiopi plays that role.
- Migrating from ISO 29990 to ISO 21001: the management-system path8 min
- ISO 29990 vs Qualiopi: two eras, two logics of training quality7 min
- ISO 29990: the story of the first international learning-services standard7 min
- Where did the ISO 29990 requirements go? Mapping them to the current standards7 min
- ISO 29990 certificate: does it still hold value, and what about your communications?7 min
- DatadockHistorical
- CNEFOP listsHistorical
- GEN labelHistorical
- CSE / SSCT approvalHistorical