Home/ISO Certification/ISO 9001:2026 Transition
ISO 9001:2026,
What It Means for Your Certificate
ISO 9001 is being revised, with publication expected in September 2026. If you hold a current ISO 9001:2015 certificate, you will have a defined window to move to the new edition or lose certification. We help you read the changes against the system you already run, update only what needs updating, and clear the transition audit without rebuilding a QMS that works.
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A Clarification, Not a Rewrite
What actually changed
The clause structure and the core ideas carry over — process approach, risk-based thinking, customer focus. What moves is where auditors will look: leadership’s part in quality culture and ethical behavior, risks and opportunities treated as separate considerations, firmer expectations around planning and controlling change, and terminology consolidated into Clause 3. Annex A has been expanded and Annex B removed.
- Leadership, quality culture and ethical behavior
- Risks and opportunities addressed separately
- Planning and control of changes to the QMS
- Terms and definitions consolidated into Clause 3
- Expanded Annex A guidance, Annex B withdrawn
Moving from 2015 to 2026
Most certified organisations do not need a new system — they need evidence that the one they have meets the revised requirements. We run a delta review against your current documentation, draft the changes that are genuinely required, brief your internal auditors and management review on the new wording, and prepare the pack your certification body will ask for at the transition audit.
- Delta review of your QMS against ISO 9001:2026
- Updates to policy, procedures and documented information
- Internal audit and management review against the new edition
- Awareness briefing for leadership and process owners
- Support through the transition audit with your certification body
When should you start?
A three-year transition period is expected, in line with recent ISO revisions, but the dates that bind you are set by IAF resolution and applied by your certification body — we confirm those before any plan is agreed. In practice the deadline that matters is your last surveillance or recertification visit inside the window, because most certification bodies fold the transition into an audit already on the calendar. Leaving it to the final year usually means paying for a separate visit. If you are certified to ISO 9001:2015, we can review where you stand and tell you whether this is a light-touch update or real work.
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