Current revision status

The International Organization for Standardization has initiated the revision process of ISO 9001:2015 that will result in the version usually tentatively called ISO 9001:2026.

A draft called “Draft International Standard (DIS)” has already been released in August 2025. It can be purchased on the ISO website.

Final release is planned for Q3 or Q4 2026, with a transition period of approximately 3 years from release for 2015 version certifications to cease to be effective.

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Expected changes per clause

• Context of the organization. Greater requirement for analysis of the environment (geopolitical risks, sustainability, climate, supply chain) and stakeholder needs. Scope needs to be better justified.
• Leadership. Reinforcement of management’s role in ethics, quality culture and alignment of the system with business strategy. More emphasis on participation and internal communication.
• Planning. Clearer separation between risks and opportunities. Broader focus on external risks (market, regulation, climate). More measurable and context-related quality objectives.
• Support. Review of required competencies and knowledge, not only current ones. Better controls over documented information and greater attention to critical knowledge (innovation, digitalization).
• Operation. Stricter control of suppliers and outsourced processes, considering ethical, environmental and continuity risks. More preventive design and development.
• Performance evaluation. More strategic indicators. Expanded management review to include ethics, sustainability, culture and resilience. Greater rigor in data analysis.
• Improvement. More proactive, not reactive, continuous improvement. Explicit link between improvement and strategic opportunities. Systematic use of lessons learned.

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What does this mean for companies?

Action should be oriented as follows:

Continue with the implementation, audit and certification of ISO 9001:2015 without waiting for the new version. Since the changes are moderate, moving forward under 2015 is perfectly valid and strategic.

Already develop a transition plan to the revised version (when it is published). This involves:

• Conduct a gap-analysis between the current system and the elements identified as changing (leadership, culture, ethics, risks/opportunities, climate change context).
• Train senior management in leadership, quality culture, ethics; revise the quality policy to reflect the context and strategic direction.
• Review how your company or client company manages risks and opportunities: ensure that such planning is not only reactive but also forward-looking.
• Incorporate into the system (or anticipate) changes in the context of the organization, especially in terms of sustainability, climate change and other environmental challenges, if applicable.

Keep abreast of when the revised version is officially published and when accreditation bodies (IAF, national bodies) communicate the transition deadline. This will be important to advise member industrial companies (packaging, machinery, textile, etc.) on their internal timeline.

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Points of attention for the industry

• Industrial companies are already under increasing pressures from sustainability, supply chain, traceability, digitalization. Therefore, the “quality culture” and “ethics” part may have a higher relevance than usual.
• Climate change/environment (although ISO 9001 is not an environmental standard, that context is being incorporated) can affect suppliers, raw materials, stakeholders: it is advisable for companies to review their external context to ensure that climate change impacts or other megatrends are being considered.
• SMEs can take advantage of this pre-transition period to strengthen the quality management system, so that when the new version arrives, they are already prepared and do not have to make an abrupt change.

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Planned timetable

• August 27, 2025: TheDraft International Standard is published for review and vote by ISO member bodies.
• January 2026: Final draft of the International Standard (FDIS) is expected.
• September 2026: Expected publication of ISO 9001:2026.
• September 2026 – August 2027: Certification bodies are trained and accredited to offer ISO 9001:2026 audits. Very few certificates will be issued during this period.
• September 2026 – 2029: 3-year transition period for organizations migrating from ISO 9001:2015 to ISO 9001:2026 (subject to IAF confirmation). Both ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 9001:2026 certificates are valid.
• September 2029: ISO 9001:2015 is officially withdrawn.