Multimedia applications have recently experienced significant evolution and have proved to contribute greatly to the enhancement of capabilities of desktop systems. The trend nowadays is to proceed to an efficient integration of multimedia services on the broadband infrastructure which emerges with the advent of ATM networks. To this end, an enhanced quality management architecture is needed, to enable Quality of Service (QoS) control at multiple levels, while taking into account the environment of modern networks, wherein multiple services are made available by multiple operators. This paper establishes the rationale for Total Quality Management (TQM) in broadband communications and focuses on the generic principles to which the design of a quality management system must adhere. An approach to the implementation of TQM applications is suggested and the policy-driven nature of quality management practices is illustrated. Finally the paper provides an overview of the testbed of the TOMQAT project (RACE 2116), upon which experimentation and validation of the TQM model and its engineering principles will take place.