BVQA TRANSITION POLICY FOR ISO 9001:2026

GENERAL TRANSITION GUIDELINES

All current existing certificates to ISO 9001:2015 (old standards) will expire three years after release and publication of ISO 9001:2026 (new standards). The expiry date of ISO 9001:2015 will be 36 months from the last day of the publication month of ISO 9001:2026, i.e. 30 September 2029.

If a client’s ISO 9001:2015 certificate expires before they are able to fully transit to the ISO 9001:2026 standard, they may be re-registered to ISO 9001:2015 (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 9001:2026, i.e. 30 September 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 9001:2026, 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 9001:2026 following 18 months from the last day of the publication month of ISO 9001:2026, i.e. no new ISO 9001:2015 certifications can be issued following this date (31 March 2028).

SUMMARY OF THE CHANGES

-        Inclusion of core ISO management system terms and definitions: Clause 3 of the document now includes a limited number of terms and definitions. ISO 9000 remains the normative reference for all quality management terms and definitions.

-        Introduction of quality culture and ethical behaviour: Quality culture and ethical behaviour are now addressed within the requirements, particularly in relation to leadership, awareness and the environment for the operation of processes.

-        Separation of risks and opportunities: Risks and opportunities are more clearly distinguished, with separate consideration of actions to address each.

-        Strengthened management of change: Requirements related to changes to the quality management system have been reinforced to support the achievement of intended results.

-        Enhanced explanatory content in Annex A: It has been revised to provide enhanced clarification of the structure, terminology and intent of the requirements as informative text, without introducing additional requirements.

-        Removal of Annex B: It previously provided information on other ISO/TC 176 standards. References to these standards are now included in Annex A and on the ISO/TC 176 website.

For more change details, please see file “ISO-9001-2026_Song-ngu-E-V_BVQA 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 9001:2026 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 9001:2015 system will go through the normal process for an initial application.