PublishedISO 9001:2026 published 16 Sept 2026 · 2015 certificates must transition by 30 Sept 2029What changed →
Updates
A dated record of what is happening to ISO 9001:2026 and what changes on Qlause. Every claim about the standard carries a link to its source — ISO, the committee or the accreditation rules — so you can check it rather than take our word for it. Entries are not edited after the fact — corrections get their own entry.
Where the standard stands today
ISO 9001:2026 was published on 16 September 2026. The transition rules are confirmed: new certifications are to ISO 9001:2026 only from 31 March 2028, and every ISO 9001:2015 certificate must transition by 30 September 2029. Every ISO 9001:2026 page was checked against the published text on 27 September 2026; the corrections are logged below, and any future one gets its own entry here.
Qlause
Checked against the published ISO 9001:2026 — three corrections
Every ISO 9001:2026 page on this site — the hub, the clause-by-clause comparison, the nine articles, the masterclass notes, the Practitioner course pages and the book — was checked against the published standard (SANS 9001:2026 Ed. 6, the identical South African adoption of ISO 9001:2026). All of the changes we described are in the published text, and 'opportunity' is still not defined. Three things needed correcting.
Correction 1 — clause 10 is renumbered. The published edition has no clause 10.3: the 2015 clauses 10.1 (improvement, general) and 10.3 (continual improvement) are folded into a single 10.1 titled continual improvement, and 10.2 (nonconformity and corrective action) is now the last clause. The substance carries over; every cross-reference to 10.3 does not. Our comparison had listed 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3 as carried over unchanged.
Correction 2 — management review changed more than we said. Clause 9.3.2 now lists eight inputs: changes in the needs and expectations of interested parties is a new, explicit input, and the effectiveness of actions on risks and on opportunities are two separate inputs. Clause 9.3.3 is retitled management review results (outputs, in 2015). Our comparison had listed 9.3 as carried over.
Correction 3 — Annex A, described as it is. It is titled 'Clarification of structure, terminology and clauses': word-level clarifications, a note on applicability and a section per clause 4–10, each pointing to the ISO 10000-series guidance standards. It contains no worked examples, and Annex B is removed. Our Annex A article had described worked examples that are not there.
Also noted, without changing what you must do: 4.2 adds a determination of which interested-party requirements the QMS addresses; 5.1.1 now has twelve commitments, including promoting opportunity-based thinking; 9.1.3 evaluates risk actions and opportunity actions separately; 9.2.2 is titled internal audit programme; and the edition-wide wording 'shall be available as documented information' / 'documented information shall be available as evidence of' replaces the 2015 maintain/retain pairing.
Qlause updated for the published standard — and one correction
The ISO 9001:2026 hub, the 2015 vs 2026 comparison, the masterclass, course and template pages and the article series now reflect publication. The transition deadline calculator uses the confirmed 30 September 2029 deadline — it had been counting three years from publication, to 16 September 2029, the safe side of the then-anticipated date — and the transition-timeline article has been rewritten around the official dates. The ISO 14001:2026 pages now give that standard's confirmed deadline, 30 April 2029, instead of “May 2029”.
Correction: our Annex A article described Annex A as ISO 9001's first guidance section. That was wrong — ISO 9001:2015 already had an informative Annex A, explaining its structure, terminology and concepts. What the 2026 edition brings is a new, much expanded guidance annex. The article, the hub and the masterclass page have been corrected.
Every ISO 9001:2026 page will now be checked against the licensed published text. Pages written against the final draft keep a note saying so until they have been.
ISO published the sixth edition of ISO 9001 on 16 September 2026, on the date ISO/TC 176/SC 2 had fixed when the final draft was approved on 7 August. ISO's announcement names the headline changes: a greater emphasis on leadership, a culture of quality and ethical behaviour; greater clarity on risks and opportunities; a new section to help users understand the intent of the requirements; and the latest Harmonized Structure for management system standards.
Our ISO 9001:2026 pages were written against the approved final draft, whose text was frozen for publication. Each of them will now be checked against the published text. Anything that moved will be corrected with a dated entry here, and until a page has been checked it says so.
If you hold an ISO 9001:2015 certificate, nothing changes overnight — the transition dates were confirmed the same day and are in the next entry.
Transition confirmed: ISO 9001:2015 certificates must move by 30 September 2029
Global ACI — the body that replaced the IAF and ILAC on 1 January 2026 — published the binding transition requirements for ISO 9001:2026 the same day (Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30 (M)). The transition is three years, as anticipated.
The dates: accreditation bodies must be ready to assess ISO 9001:2026 by 31 March 2027; certification bodies submit their transition declarations by 30 June 2027, and accreditation bodies complete their decisions by 30 September 2027; from 31 March 2028, new and initial accredited certifications can only be issued to ISO 9001:2026; and every certified organisation must complete its transition — including the issue of the new certificate — by 30 September 2029.
The transition can happen at a scheduled surveillance or recertification audit, or at a separate transition audit. A certification body can only issue accredited ISO 9001:2026 certificates once its own accreditation has transitioned, so ask yours when that will be before you fix a date. Whether the transition needs extra audit time is the certification body's decision.
ISO 14001:2026 runs to its own, earlier clock: its transition closes on 30 April 2029. If you want one combined transition audit for an integrated system, that is the date that governs it.
The full 2015 vs 2026 clause comparison is now live
Every clause of ISO 9001 is now compared across the two editions, free: what the 2015 text required, what the 2026 text requires, and what to actually change in your QMS. Eight clauses changed in substance and each has its own page; the rest are listed as carried over so you can see at a glance that nothing was missed.
It is published now rather than on publication day for one reason. The FDIS ballot closed on 7 August, which freezes the clause numbering and the text — so guidance written against the approved final draft does not need re-cutting when the standard lands. Waiting would have bought no accuracy and cost five weeks.
The pages will be re-verified against the licensed text on publication day, and anything that drifted will be corrected here with a dated entry.
The Qlause Internal Auditor course is live — free during launch
Eight modules, built to ISO 19011, taking an internal auditor from the purpose of auditing through to reporting, corrective action and follow-up — including a module on auditing the new 2026 ground. Server-graded quizzes, a final exam, and a certificate you can verify from a public link.
Free during launch. The verification page means an employer or an auditor can confirm a certificate is real without taking anyone's word for it.
ISO/FDIS 9001 approved — ISO 9001:2026 publishes on 16 September 2026
ISO/TC 176/SC 2, the subcommittee responsible for ISO 9001, announced that the Final Draft International Standard has passed its ballot and that the sixth edition of ISO 9001 will be published on 16 September 2026. ISO's own catalogue entry corroborates it at stage 60.00, Edition 6.
Two things follow from this, and the second matters more than the first. The publication date is now fixed rather than estimated — for two years the honest answer to “when?” was “sometime in 2026”, and it is now a specific Wednesday five weeks out. And because the FDIS ballot has closed, the clause numbering and the text are frozen. Gap analysis, document updates and training built against the approved final draft from today are built against what the standard will actually say.
The transition period is the one thing still genuinely open. Three years from publication is the settled pattern for major ISO 9001 revisions, which would put the deadline around September 2029 — but that is anticipated, not official. The formal transition arrangements are confirmed by the IAF and the accreditation bodies at or around publication, and we will log them here when they land.
If you hold an ISO 9001:2015 certificate, nothing breaks on 16 September. Both editions stay valid through the transition window, and the switch happens at a normal surveillance or recertification audit rather than a separate event.
“ISO/FDIS 9001 has been approved with overwhelming international support… The sixth edition of ISO 9001 is scheduled for publication on 16 September 2026.”
The Clause Companion — the plain-language field guide is published
A plain-language guide to ISO 9001, mirror-numbered to the standard, with a box in every clause family showing exactly what the 2026 edition changes and a phased transition checklist at the back.
Sold as an early edition: buyers get the 2026-verified update free when the standard publishes.
Two free calculators: transition deadline and SA certification cost
The transition deadline calculator takes your current certificate expiry and shows which audit in your calendar should be the transition audit, and how much slack you have. The certification cost calculator gives a realistic Rand range for ISO 9001 certification in South Africa, broken down by what actually drives the price.
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Qlause provides interpretive guidance only and is not a substitute for the standards. Refer to your licensed copy of ISO 9001 for the authoritative text.