ISO 9001:2026 is published: what the transition asks of you

ISO 9001:2026 publishes on 16 September 2026, following completion of the Final Draft International Standard ballot. It is the first revision since 2015, and the first most certified organisations will have lived through.

Source: LRQA — ISO 9001 revision update: publication date confirmed

What is expected to change

The revision is evolutionary rather than structural. The clause architecture that ISO 9001 shares with ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and the rest stays as it is, which matters more than any single amendment: an integrated management system does not have to be rebuilt. What is expected is a shift of emphasis — quality culture, ethical conduct, and the modern context a business operates in — expressed through editorial change rather than new clauses.

Climate change is already in the standard. An amendment in February 2024 added the requirement to determine whether climate change is a relevant issue, and organisations certified since then should already carry a recorded answer either way.

What the transition asks

A three-year transition period is anticipated, consistent with recent ISO revisions, which would put the deadline around September 2029. That is not as long as it sounds. The work is a gap assessment against the new text, an update to whatever your documentation quotes clause numbers from, awareness for the people who run the system, and one internal audit against the new edition before your certification body arrives.

What to do now

Nothing urgent, and one thing worth doing early: find out where your existing system does not meet the current edition, because a transition audit will find those first. Certificates to ISO 9001:2015 remain valid through the transition — but a body will not transition a system that is failing the old standard, and organisations discover that at the worst possible moment.