BVQA TRANSITION POLICY FOR ISO 14001:2026

GENERAL TRANSITION GUIDELINES

All current existing certificates to ISO 14001:2015 (old standards) will expire three years after release and publication of ISO 14001:2026 (new standards). The expiry date of ISO 14001:2015 will be 36 months  from the last day of the publication month of ISO 14001:2026, i.e. 30 Apr 2029.

If a client’s ISO 14001:2015 certificate expires before they are able to fully transit to the ISO 14001:2026 standard, they may be re-registered to ISO 14001:2015 (subject to a cut-off period to allow for subsequent transition). The expiration date of this re-registered certificate will be within the three-year anniversary of the release month of ISO 14001:2026, i.e. 30 Apr 2029.

Prior to the Transition Audit being undertaken, clients are encouraged to complete an Internal Audit and Management Review against the new requirements of ISO 14001:2026, as this exercise serves both to ensure that all requirements have been addressed in the management system and to provide easy reference to these requirements during the transition audit. As a minimum, the client must have completed a formal gap analysis using the document mentioned above and reviewed the output with Top Management at management review or an equivalent mechanism.

New / Initial certifications shall only be to the revised version of ISO 14001:2026 following 18 months from the last day of the publication month of ISO 14001:2026, i.e. no new ISO 14001:2015 certifications can be issued following this date (31 Oct 2027).

SUMMARY OF THE CHANGES

-  A strengthened focus on a broader range of environmental conditions in addition to climate change for the analysis of the organisational context, such as pollution levels, biodiversity and availability of natural resources

-  Restructured and clarified requirements related to risk and opportunity processes

-  New clause and requirements for the planning of changes

-  Strengthened emphasis on life cycle perspective in the environmental aspect determination process

-  For operational controls, the focus is extended from “outsourced processes” to “externally provided processes, products and services”

-  In addition, Annex A (informative), has been substantially extended and improved for various clauses to support interpretation of the various requirements.

For more change details, please see file “ISO_14001-2026_Requirement_EV Highlighted” with changes highlighted.

TRANSITION OPTIONS

-  OPTION 1: Annual Surveillance or Recertification Transition - Recommended Option.

-  OPTION 2: Special/Any-time Visit Transition

CERTIFICATION VALID UNTIL DATE

If successful, BVQA will issue a new certificate with the valid until date (VUD):

-  At a surveillance or special audit - this will reflect the previous certificate.

-  At a re-certification audit - this will reset the three-year certification cycle.

-  It is likely that a number of certificates will have a valid until date that has been restricted to less than 3 years by the end of transition period. In this circumstance, when the client successfully transits their system, the ISO 14001:2026 certificate will re-instate the remaining cycle duration. This will return the client to their previous 3 yearly cycle.

NEW CLIENTS

Clients with no previously certificated ISO 14001:2015 system will go through the normal process for an initial application.