ISO 9001:2026 Published: What Has Changed in the Quality Management System?

According to statements made by ISO, the main objective of the revision is to make the requirements clearer and more applicable and to maintain the relevance of the standard in a rapidly changing business environment.

What Has Changed with ISO 9001:2026?

Rather than constituting a comprehensive restructuring that changes the fundamental approach of the 2015 version, ISO 9001:2026 is a revision that improves the existing quality management system and strengthens certain areas.

The key changes introduced by the new standard are grouped under the following headings:

Greater Emphasis on Leadership and Quality Culture

With ISO 9001:2026, quality management goes beyond being addressed solely through processes, procedures, and controls, with stronger emphasis placed on quality culture and the role of leadership.

The leadership of top management in the quality management system, support for the adoption of a quality mindset throughout the organization, and encouragement of quality-oriented behaviors are among the notable elements of the new version. This approach moves quality management beyond being an operational process under the responsibility of relevant departments and positions it as part of organizational culture and management philosophy.

The promotion of ethical behavior is also among the topics that have become more visible within the framework of leadership and quality culture.

Risks and Opportunities Are More Clearly Distinguished

Risk-based thinking was one of the fundamental elements of ISO 9001:2015. ISO 9001:2026, however, distinguishes the treatment of risks and opportunities more clearly.

Under this approach, organizations are expected not only to identify risks that may adversely affect their activities, but also to systematically assess opportunities that may support the performance of the quality management system and the achievement of organizational objectives.

In this way, risk management is intended to be used not only as a control mechanism aimed at preventing adverse outcomes, but also as a strategic tool that supports the identification of development and improvement opportunities.

Management of Change Is Strengthened

The environment in which organizations operate is constantly changing due to technological developments, customer expectations, supply chains, business models, and other external factors.

ISO 9001:2026 strengthens the approach to planning and managing changes to the quality management system. Not only the implementation of changes, but also elements such as:

• Communicating them correctly to relevant parties,
• Monitoring their outcomes,
• Evaluating their effectiveness,
• Reviewing the resulting outcomes

stand out as important components of change management.

This approach supports more integrated management of quality and change processes, particularly for organizations undergoing continuous transformation and making extensive use of technology in their operations.

Climate Change Is Incorporated into the New Standard

Climate change is not an entirely new requirement in the context of ISO 9001. With the ISO 9001:2015/Amd 1:2024 amendment published in February 2024, ISO had already incorporated requirements for organizations to determine whether climate change is a relevant issue when evaluating the context of the organization.

With ISO 9001:2026, this approach is incorporated into the structure of the new standard.

Accordingly, when evaluating internal and external issues that may affect the quality management system, organizations also need to consider whether climate change is relevant in terms of their activities, stakeholder expectations, or processes.

Annex A Becomes More Explanatory

One of the important updates in ISO 9001:2026 is the enhancement of the Annex A section of the standard. The new Annex A aims to explain more clearly the intent behind the fundamental concepts and requirements of the standard.

This change is particularly important in terms of reducing differences in interpretation that may arise when the standard is applied across organizations of different sizes and in different sectors.

Annex A continues to be informative in nature; therefore, rather than adding new obligations to the requirements of the standard, it aims to provide greater clarity on how the existing requirements should be understood.

Integration with Other ISO Management Systems Becomes Easier

With ISO 9001:2026, structural alignment with other ISO management system standards is also strengthened. This approach is important for organizations that implement more than one management system within the same organization.

For example, in structures where standards such as:

• ISO 9001 Quality Management System,
• ISO 14001 Environmental Management System,
• ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System,
• ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Management System,
• ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System,
• ISO 10002 Customer Satisfaction Management System,
• ISO/IEC 27701 Privacy Information Management System

are implemented together, it becomes possible to manage processes in a more integrated manner.

This may support a more holistic approach to common risk management, internal audit, management review, documentation, and continual improvement processes.

What Should Organizations Certified to ISO 9001:2015 Expect?

With the publication of ISO 9001:2026, ISO 9001:2015 has started to appear in ISO’s official records as the previous version. However, the publication of the new standard does not mean that existing ISO 9001:2015 certificates lost their validity on the same day.

ISO states that organizations currently certified to ISO 9001:2015 will need to transition to the new version within a period to be determined as part of their certification cycles. An approximately three-year transition period is envisaged for existing ISO 9001:2015 certificates, and the process is expected to be completed by September 2029. Details regarding the transition timetable and certification practices should be assessed together with the relevant certification bodies.

For this reason, when planning the transition process, organizations should take into account the validity dates of their own certificates and the transition programs to be published by their certification bodies.

How Can Organizations Prepare for the Transition to ISO 9001:2026?

Following the publication of the new standard, it would be beneficial for organizations, as a first step, to compare their existing quality management systems with the requirements of ISO 9001:2026.

Within this scope, the following may constitute the key steps of the transition process:

• Analyzing the differences between ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 9001:2026,
• Conducting a gap analysis of the existing quality management system,
• Evaluating quality culture and leadership practices,
• Reviewing risk and opportunity management methods,
• Examining change management processes,
• Reassessing the context of the organization and the expectations of interested parties,
• Identifying necessary policy, procedure, and documentation updates,
• Informing employees about the new requirements,
• Evaluating internal audit and management review processes in line with the new standard,
• Planning the transition timetable together with the certification body.

What Does ISO 9001:2026 Mean for Organizations?

When the changes introduced by ISO 9001:2026 are examined, it can be seen that quality management is not addressed merely as a structure consisting of controlling and documenting processes.

The new standard makes the relationship between leadership, organizational culture, ethical behavior, change management, the assessment of risks and opportunities, and continual improvement more visible.

For this reason, the transition to the new version should not be regarded solely as an update of existing quality documentation; it should be considered an opportunity to review the organization’s quality management approach as a whole.

As an organization holding an ISO 9001 Quality Management System certification, we regard quality as one of the fundamental elements of our corporate culture and continue our efforts to continuously improve our processes, meet customer expectations, and sustainably enhance the effectiveness of our management systems.

We closely monitor the changes introduced by ISO 9001:2026 and the developments relating to the transition process to the new standard.

You can access the ISO 9001:2026 standard here.