ISO 9001 is being revised and the new edition is expected in September 2026. Nothing in it should worry anyone holding a 2015 certificate, but there are four changes worth knowing about before it lands.
Where the revision has got to
The final draft ballot closed on 10 July 2026 and the standard is at stage 60.00, "International Standard under publication", which is the last production step before release. ISO show expected publication in September 2026, as the sixth edition of ISO 9001, replacing ISO 9001:2015.
Source: iso.org/standard/88464.html. Stage codes move, so treat that as the position in August 2026.
Quality culture and ethical behaviour
The most talked-about addition. Top management will be expected to promote a quality culture and ethical behaviour, and awareness requirements extend to cover both. Culture is described in terms of shared values, beliefs, attitudes and observed behaviours.
How that gets audited is the interesting question, and the honest answer is that it will be audited the way leadership commitment is audited now: by talking to people who are not in the management team and seeing whether what they say matches what the policy claims.
Risks and opportunities, pulled apart
Clause 6.1 currently treats risks and opportunities together, and most organisations respond with a single register in which the opportunities column is empty. The revision separates the two, with actions to address risks considered separately from actions to pursue opportunities.
If your risk register has never had an opportunity in it, that is the change that will affect you.
Change management, reinforced
Requirements around changes to the quality management system have been strengthened, with more emphasis on verifying and evaluating whether a change achieved what it was supposed to. The same theme runs through the new ISO 14001:2026 edition, which added a management of change clause outright.
Structure and definitions
Clause 3 now carries a limited set of terms and definitions rather than referring wholly to ISO 9000. Annex A has been expanded with explanatory material, which is guidance and adds no requirements, and Annex B has gone.
What is not changing
The foundations stay where they are: customer focus, the process approach, risk-based thinking, continual improvement and evidence-based decision making. The harmonized structure remains, so ISO 9001 will still sit alongside ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 in an integrated system without a rewrite.
The climate change wording added by the 2024 amendment is already in force and is carried through, so that is not new work.
What to do now
Very little, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. The standard is not published yet, and a system that genuinely works today will meet the 2026 edition with a handful of adjustments rather than a rebuild.
When you move is your decision. The transition timetable set by the accreditation system applies to UKAS-accredited certificates. It does not govern the certificates we issue, and we will not withdraw a certificate because a date has passed.
The two things worth doing before the autumn are looking at whether your risk register has ever contained an opportunity, and whether you could evidence a change to the system and its result if we asked. Both will be easier now than in a year.
A note on sources
This article is based on ISO's published information about the revision and on the final draft as reported by certification bodies. It is not written from the published standard, because there is not one yet. We will check it against the final text when the standard is released, and update it.
If you hold an ISO 9001 certificate with us and want to know what the revision means for your next audit, get in touch. Our ISO 9001 certification page covers how we assess.