First ISO 9001 Certification: What the 2026 Edition Changes

Which edition should a first ISO 9001 certification target?

ISO 9001:2026, without hesitation. The ISO/TC 176/SC 2 committee announced the publication of the standard on 16 September 2026; it replaces ISO 9001:2015, including its 2024 amendment. For a company that has no certificate yet, building a system to the old edition means scheduling its own rework.

The rule for initial certifications comes from the Global ACI transition document (Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30, version 1.1 of 4 September 2026). Global ACI, the body that took over the work of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), makes this document mandatory for signatory accreditation bodies and for the certification bodies they accredit. Its rule: 18 months after the end of the month of publication, that is 31 March 2028, initial certifications can only be granted to the 2026 edition. The document adds a note for certification bodies: no new certification to the 2015 edition can be issued after that date, and they must take this into account when planning stages 1 and 2 of initial audits.

In other words, a project launched in 2027 on the 2015 edition runs two risks: seeing its stage 2 slip beyond 31 March 2028, and having to go through a transition audit before 30 September 2029 anyway.

When can a certification body issue an accredited ISO 9001:2026 certificate?

After its own accreditation has transitioned, not before. According to Global ACI, accredited certification to the 2026 edition is allowed only once the accreditation body has transitioned the certification body’s accreditation. The declaration that each certification body signs for its transition explicitly states that it will issue accredited certificates to the 2026 edition only after that decision.

For a first certification, three dates in 2027 therefore matter as much as those of 2028 and 2029.

Depending on its starting point, a project launched in early 2027 may reach stage 2 just as certification bodies are finalising their transition. The point to settle is therefore not the standard, but your certification body’s calendar. In Morocco, the Ministry of Industry and Trade publishes the lists of certification bodies accredited by SEMAC to NM ISO/IEC 17021-1; SEMAC (Service Marocain d’Accréditation) is the Moroccan Accreditation Service. SEMAC is an associate member of Global ACI, not yet a signatory of its mutual recognition arrangement, and we found no SEMAC-specific transition timeline on the ministry website (November 2026). For a body accredited abroad, what counts is the calendar of its own accreditation body. In both cases, ask your certification body for its calendar in writing.

Should you certify to the 2015 edition in the meantime?

Only if a contractual deadline requires it, and knowing the price. An initial certificate to the 2015 edition, issued before 31 March 2028, will stop being valid on 30 September 2029, whatever its printed expiry date, unless it has gone through a transition audit. Global ACI allows that audit to be combined with a surveillance or recertification audit, or carried out at a special audit; at a minimum, it covers the changed requirements, changes in the context and the need for other changes in the system.

Our recommendation, when the schedule forces an audit to the 2015 edition: build the system on the 2026 edition anyway. The changes listed by Global ACI add, reorganise or clarify requirements; none removes one, and only the informative Annex B disappears. A system designed to the 2026 edition should therefore meet the 2015 edition, and the transition audit would simply confirm what already exists. Global ACI states, however, that its list is not exhaustive: have your certification body confirm this point before stage 1.

What does the 2026 edition change in a project that is just starting?

Little in the method, a few more explicit requirements in the content. Global ACI considers the changes as a whole to be minimal and expects organisations to find them largely intuitive and achievable with reasonable effort. For a first system, they translate into six reflexes to build in from the design stage:

• management that promotes quality culture and ethical behaviour (clause 5.1.1), and staff who are aware of them (clause 7.3);
• a quality policy that takes the context into account and supports the strategic direction (5.2.1);
• risks and opportunities addressed separately (6.1.2 and 6.1.3);
• changes followed through to their results: effectiveness, communication, review (6.3);
• a management review that includes each of its inputs, among them changes in the expectations of interested parties (9.3.2);
• a context analysis that settles the question of climate change, which entered the standard with the 2024 amendment.

The clause-by-clause explanation is in our guide to what changes in the ISO 9001:2026 transition. For an SME starting out, the advantage is real: no risk register to split, no change procedure to rewrite, no internal auditors to retrain. The full journey is described in our guide to ISO 9001 certification in Morocco.

What should you ask your certification body now?

A written position on its transition and a firm schedule. According to Global ACI, certification bodies must train their sales staff, auditors and decision-makers on the 2026 edition and review their quotation and audit time calculation processes: your questions come at the right moment.

• Does your accreditation cover ISO 9001 and our business sector, and which accreditation body grants it?
  
• Where are you in your transition to ISO 9001:2026: declaration submitted, decision expected on what date?
  
• If our stage 2 takes place before your transition decision, on what date can the accredited ISO 9001:2026 certificate be issued?
  
• Have you decided not to transition? (Global ACI then requires you to announce it in writing by 30 June 2027 at the latest.)
  
• What audit time do you set for stages 1 and 2, and on what justification, in line with Global ACI-TECH-3-004?
  
• What firm dates do you propose for stage 1 and stage 2, and with what interval between them?
  

The audit time calculation and its effect on your budget are detailed in our article on ISO 9001 certification cost in Morocco, based on document Global ACI-TECH-3-004.