Word usage
Only shall creates a requirement. Should is a recommendation, may is a permission and can is a capability.
The verbs decide what is a requirement. Only shall binds, and the register keeps the verb visible on every line.
What clause 1.3 asks
Four verbs carry fixed meanings. Shall marks a rule that must be followed for a declaration of conformity, with no room to depart. Should marks a course that is advised without ruling out another. May marks something the document permits. Can marks what is possible or what a thing is able to do. The document also retires must for rules, using it only for situations that cannot be avoided, and limits will to statements of fact.
Why it matters
The verb rule is the difference between a finding and a suggestion. A process that skips a should is not automatically nonconforming. A process that skips a shall is. Teams get into trouble when an internal procedure promotes every recommendation into a mandatory step, or when a contract uses must and leaves the reader unsure which clause is which. Reading the verbs accurately also protects the organization from a supplier or auditor who overstates the standard.
What good looks like
Tag every line of the register with its verb before the assessment. Keep two lists: the shall obligations that a conformance claim depends on, and the should practices that improve the result. When the standard is written into a contract, quote the clause and keep its verb. Do not let a drafting habit turn a should into a shall without a conscious decision, because that decision changes the evidence the supplier owes.
Evidence an assessor asks for
The assessor will test the claim against the shall lines, then read any should line the organization says it follows. A register that does not distinguish them cannot support a precise finding.
- Verb-tagged register Every clause line with shall, should, may or can recorded beside it
- Claim list The shall obligations on which the conformance claim rests
- Contract extract The clause text and verb as written into the agreement
- Drafting note A note recording any place where the organization chose to exceed a should
Where it commonly fails
- Internal procedures use must, so no one can tell which steps are mandatory under the standard
- A should clause is written into a customer contract as a firm obligation without the supplier noticing
- A may permission is presented to a regulator as a requirement
What to do before publication
Tag the verbs before writing the claim. If the organization wants to be held to a should, record that as its own commitment rather than as a standard requirement.