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Standard Revisions
ISO 9001:2026 publishes. Your 2015 certificate stays valid.
Registrars complete auditor training and accreditation updates. Only then can they audit anyone to the new version. You work with us for the upgrade to your system.
The practical window. Transition audits are available, auditor calendars still have room, and you can combine your transition with a surveillance or recertification visit you were already paying for.
Expected end of the transition period. Global ACI confirms the exact date at or near publication, and we will email you the day it is official.
Nothing breaks on September 16. Your ISO 9001:2015 certificate stays valid through the transition window.
Then the transition audit shows up on the calendar, and a year of work gets crammed into eight weeks while your quality manager is also handling customer complaints, a supplier issue, and a corrective action that will not close.
The revision itself is manageable. It is an update, not a rebuild. The ten clause structure holds. The process approach holds. Risk based thinking holds.
But the changes hit the parts of your system that take the longest to fix, because they ask for evidence of leadership behavior, not just updated paperwork. You cannot generate that in the week before an audit.
Climate change is now named as a factor you have to consider when determining your context. Most companies will need to document that they considered it, even if the conclusion is that the impact is limited.
Top management has to promote and demonstrate a quality culture and ethical behavior. The word that matters is demonstrate. An auditor cannot write a finding against an attitude, so they will ask for artifacts. Quality goals owned by executives. Management review minutes that show leadership working a problem instead of approving a slide. A route for people to raise integrity concerns without going through their boss.
Your policy now has to reflect your context and support your strategic direction. A generic policy statement copied from a template will not survive this.
These split into separate requirements. Under 2015, most companies built one register, filled it with threats, added a line about opportunities, and passed. That will not hold. You will need to show an opportunity you identified, acted on, and measured.
A limited set of definitions moves into the standard itself, so you cross-reference ISO 9000 less often
Expanded with far more guidance tied to Clauses 4 through 10. Worth reading before your auditor does.
Moderate. Smaller than the jump from 2008 to 2015. For a well-run system this is policy, context, risk handling, and leadership evidence. It is not a rewrite.
Three years sounds generous. Count backward instead.
Your registrar cannot audit you to ISO 9001:2026 until their auditors are trained and their accreditation is updated. That takes months after publication.
Your transition audit then has to land on a surveillance or recertification visit already on your calendar. You do not get to pick an arbitrary date.
Before that audit you need an internal audit against the new requirements and a management review that shows leadership engaged with the results. Both take time to schedule and time to do properly.
And leadership evidence is not a document you write. It is a pattern you build over a couple of review cycles.
Back all of that out and your real working runway is closer to twelve months than thirty-six.
Then there is the queue. Every certified company in your industry is working from the same deadline. Companies that plan early pick their audit date and fold the transition into an audit they were already paying for. Companies that wait take whatever their registrar has left, and pay for the rush.
A clause by clause summary of what changed from 2015 to 2026, written in plain English instead of standards language.
A detailed proposal spelling out exactly what we'll handle for you, so there's no guesswork.
A transition timeline built backward from your next audit date, not forward from today.
An email the day the Global ACI confirms the official transition deadline.
A short call with an ISO Lead Auditor to answer questions about your specific system. No script and no pressure.
Neither package is sold from this page. The right answer depends on the condition of your EMS and how many hours your people actually have. We walk you through both on the call and tell you straight which one fits. The wrong choice costs money in both directions.
Best fit if your quality manager also owns safety, purchasing, or customer complaints. Or if your system has drifted since your last recertification. Or if you want this off your desk and done right the first time.
Best fit if you have a capable quality manager, a healthy system, and real hours to put against the plan.
IQC has helped over 5,000 companies build, fix, and improve quality management systems since 1991. Our team holds ISO Lead Auditor credentials and Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belts. We wrote the training our own clients use. Our co-founder helped write this standard. Members of our team still sit on the committee.
One thing we tell everyone up front. We are not a certification body and we do not issue certificates. We prepare your system, train your people, and run your internal audit. Your registrar performs the audit that puts the certificate on your wall.
That separation is deliberate. It keeps your certification clean, and it means our advice is not shaped by an audit we are trying to sell you.
Fill this out and the brief goes to your inbox right away. We will also call within two business days to answer questions about your system. Prefer email only? Check the box and we will honor it.
Tell us when it is and we will tell you what your transition looks like. That is a fifteen minute call, and most people leave it knowing exactly what to do next, whether or not they hire anyone.