ISO 9001:2026 is published: what the ISO panel actually said

Last Updated on September 16, 2026 by Hafsa J.

QSE News, September 16. ISO published ISO 9001:2026 this morning, the sixth edition of the most widely used quality standard in the world, and presented it live for thirty minutes on YouTube and LinkedIn. Three speakers, one question session, and one line repeated until the last minute: an evolution, not a revolution. Here is what was said, and what it means for you.

Thirty minutes, three voices, one instruction

9:00 a.m. in Paris, 3:00 a.m. Eastern, Wednesday, September 16. Katie Clift, head of media relations at ISO, opens the launch press conference. Beside her, Sergio Mujica, ISO Secretary-General, Sam Somerville, who chaired the revision work within ISO/TC 176, and Isabela Santos, compliance lead at the engineering consultancy Cundall. Eleven years after the 2015 edition, the standard used by more than one million organizations gets a new text.

The first number I take away is not in the standard, it is in the method: more than 150 experts, 67 countries, 21 liaison organizations, close to three years of work. Three years. For a text whose structure does not change, that says a lot about the care put into every word. Sam Somerville summed it up in one line I suggest you keep for your next management review: quality is built through conversations, not through documentation. Coming from the person who led the rewrite, that is not a small remark.

So why am I telling you all this? Because the panel’s instruction was the same from start to finish. The foundation does not move. The structure of clauses 4 to 10 is kept. What changes is targeted, and that is what we are going to look at.

What Sam Somerville listed as the changes

Asked live about the key changes, the chair of the revision started with what is not in clauses 4 to 10, and that is a choice. Why? Because, in her view, many organizations have failed in the past on interpretation, not on intent. The standard now includes its own key terms and definitions, which had never been the case. And an Annex A clarifies the intent behind each requirement, so that users understand what is expected before applying it to their own context. I find that a very sound choice.

Then come the substantive changes. Leadership, with quality culture and ethical behavior added to clause 5. A clarified distinction between risks and opportunities, because, as she put it, opportunities aim at positive outcomes, not merely at the absence of risk. Organizational knowledge, with more precision on how to identify it. And internal audit, which must now define its objectives, in addition to its criteria and scope. On that last point she was clear: criteria and scope already existed, the objectives are new.

To auditors asking for guidance, the answer came down to four words: read the whole standard. Not just clauses 4 to 10, the definitions and the annex too. Two companion documents are in preparation, ISO 9002 (guidelines for application) and an ISO 9001 handbook for small businesses, and the TC 176 Auditing Practices Group already publishes audit guidance. In other words, nobody expects you to have understood everything on your own this week, but everybody expects you to have read the text.

The change that will ask the most of leaders

One question from the audience hit home: which change will require the biggest shift in behavior from top management? Isabela Santos answered as a practitioner. First, opportunities, because in most companies the analysis stops at risks, and when an opportunity shows up, it is as a by-product of a risk. The standard now asks you to look for them in their own right, at every level, operations included. Second, quality culture, which sits entirely with top management, and on which, in her experience, some companies still struggle to get their leaders on board.

Sam Somerville drove the point home on clause 5, one of the longest in the text: top management must own the system, not hand it to the quality department. And she added the argument I find most useful for convincing an executive committee, the one I bring back at every management review: leaders are the ones with the most to gain, because a solid quality system gives them what they need to decide with confidence. You see where I am going? That is not a compliance argument. It is a steering argument. And it works.

Cundall‘s testimony gave the concrete version. The firm runs an integrated system with ISO 9001 as the backbone, alongside ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO 27001. One single risk assessment process that crosses quality, environment, health and safety, information security, legal requirements and customer expectations, on one platform. The result, according to its compliance lead: a complete view for management, with no silos.

Who it is for, and what for

Sergio Mujica repeated the phrase he had chosen to open: an invitation to excellence. His line on continual improvement deserves to be noted as is: quality is not a place you arrive at, it is a way of traveling. He also cited the World Bank’s World Development Report, published a few months earlier, which presents international standards as a catalyst for trade and development.

To small businesses wondering whether any of this was for them, Sam Somerville answered with three numbers: micro, small and medium-sized enterprises account for about 90 percent of businesses worldwide, 40 percent of GDP and 70 percent of employment. In her view the standard is not just as relevant to them, it is even more relevant, and the accessibility of the text was part of the revision work. A proven framework, she added, can make the difference for the 20 percent of new businesses that fail in their first year.

The last two sentences of the livestream are the ones to pin above your desk. Sam Somerville: it is not about certification, it is about using the standard to improve the organization. Isabela Santos: use the standard for the benefit of the business, the audit is only the result of work well done. Two experts, two continents, the same conclusion. We could not say it better.

What it changes for you this week

By now you get it: nothing forces you to run. Nobody is running. Neither should you. The text has been on sale since this morning on the ISO Store, with national adoptions, including the ANSI/ASQ edition for the United States, to follow. The transition timeline, the accreditation lead times of certification bodies and the dates to watch are detailed in last week’s article on the ISO 9001:2026 launch, and tracked in the ISO Transition Tracker.

What is worth doing right now comes down to three moves. Read the whole text, definitions and Annex A included, since that is the panel’s own instruction. Look at your risk analysis and ask where your opportunities are, the ones you look for in their own right and not as a risk turned around. And open your latest internal audit plan to check whether it states objectives, not just a scope and criteria. The answer is no? You just found your first transition gap. Good news: it takes an hour to fix.

The replay is available on ISO’s YouTube channel. Thirty minutes, and the best summary of the standard you will hear this year, because it comes from the people who wrote it.

Hafsa J.

👋 Hi, I’m HAFSA, and for the past 12 years, I’ve been on a journey to
make ISO standards less intimidating and more approachable for everyone.

Whether it’s ISO 9001, ISO 22000, or the cosmetics-focused ISO 22716, I’ve spent my career
turning complex jargon into clear, actionable steps that businesses can actually use.

I’m not here to call myself an expert—I prefer “enthusiast” because I truly love what I do.
There’s something incredibly rewarding about helping people navigate food safety and quality management systems
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When I’m not writing about standards, you’ll probably find me playing Piano 🎹, connecting with people, or diving into my next big project💫.

I’m an engineer specialized in the food and agricultural industry
I have a Master’s in QHSE management and over 12 years of experience as a Quality Manager
I’ve helped more than 15 companies implement ISO 9001, ISO 22000, ISO 22716, GMP, and other standards
My clients include food producers, cosmetics manufacturers, laboratories, and service companies
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