The guidelines given in this part of ISO 3834 have been prepared to describe welding quality requirements suitable for application by manufacturers using welding as a means of fabrication. They are structured such that they can be used for fabrication of any type of fusion welded construction. They relate only to those aspects of the quality of the final construction which may be influenced by welding and allied processes.These guidelines define various approaches to quality requirements for welding fabrication, both in workshops and on sites and provide guidance for describing the capability of a manufacturer to be able to produce welded constructions of the specified quality. They can also be used by any interested party as a basis for assessing a manufacturers welding quality arrangements.These guidelines are intended as a guide for the preparation of regulatory or contractual requirements and for a manufacturer's management to define welding requirements for quality systems related to the type of welded construction. The guidelines are not structured to be used in isolation as part of any regulatory, contractual or managerial requirement.They are intended to be used for the following purposes:a) providing interpretation of the requirements in the ISO 9000 series of standards, as a guideline for specification and establishment of the part of the quality system related to control of welding as a "special process";b) providing guidelines to establish specifications and welding quality requirements, where a quality system according to ISO 9001 and ISO 9002 is not involved;(c) assessment of the welding quality requirements mentioned in a) or b) above.The application of this would typically occur in the following circumstances:- in contractual situations: specification of welding requirements for quality systems;- by manufacturers: establishment and maintenance of welding quality requirements;- by committees preparing structural codes or other application standards: specification of welding quality requirements;- by interested parties, e.g. third parties, customers or the manufacturer's management: assessment of welding quality requirements.